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RESEARCHES     INTO     THE     MYSTERIES 

OF 

OCCULTISM. 

ILLUSTRATED   IN   A 

SERIES  OF  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

IN   TWO   PARTS. 

BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF  ' '  ART  MAGIC " ;  WITH   EXTRACTS  FROM  THE  RECORDS  OF 
"MAGICAL  SEANCES,"  ETC.  ETC. 

TRANSLATED  AND  EDITED 
BY  EMMA   HARDINGE   BRITTEN. 


"I  am  He  that  liveth  and.  was  dead, 
And  behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore." 


rnvE 


PUBLISHED     FOR    THE     EDITOR 
AT   BOSTON,  AMEEICA. 

1876. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1876, 

By  WILLIAM    BRITTEN, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


Stereotyped  and  Printed  by 
ALFRED  MUDGE  &  SON,  PRINTERS,  BOSTON. 


CONTENTS. 


PART    FIRST. 

PAGE. 

AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 5-7 

EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION 9-14 

CHAPTER  I. 

ON  THE  THRESHOLD.  —AUTHOR'S  VIEWS.  —  PARENTAGE.  —FIRST  YEARS 
AT  COLLEGE.  —  PROFESSOR  VON  MARX.  —  THE  BERLIN  BROTHER- 
HOOD. —  FIRST  SEANCES 17-31 

CHAPTER  EL 

SECRET  SOCIETIES. —MAGIC. —THE  "ATMOSPHERIC  SPIRIT."  —  FLY- 
ING SOULS.  —  MURDER,  AND  ITS  RESULTS 32-44 

CHAPTER  III. 

CONSTANCE.  —  THE  VICTIM.  -^  How  A  FLYING  SOUL  BECOMES  AN  IM- 
MORTAL SPIRIT 45-63 

CHAPTER  IV. 

ZWINGLER.  —  HOW  TO    TRACK  A  MURDERER 64-75 

CHAPTER  V. 
MAGIC  IN  ENGLAND. — JOHN  CAVENDISH  DUDLEY.  —  OCCULTISM. — THE 

LETTER-SHADOWS  OF  FATE 76-91 

CHAPTER  VI. 

MAGICIANS  AND  SPIRIT  MEDIUMS.  —  INVOCATIONS.  —  ELEMENTARIES.  — 
PLANETARIES.  —  MIRRORS  AND  CRYSTALS.  —  KOBOLDS.  —  FAIRIES. 
—  SPIRITISM  IN  THE  SCOTCH  HIGHLANDS 92-125 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  OBSESSION.  —THE  ASTRONOMERS  AND  THE  SPIRITS,       126-142 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
STRAY   WANDERINGS.  —  THE   FASTING   GIRL.  —  THE    GIPSIES.  —  THE 

MODERN  "DER  FRIESCHUTZ" 143-171 

CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  LETTER.  —  THE  LIFE  TRANSFER.  —  THE  BEREAVED         .        .        .        172-186 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  JOURNEY.  —  THE  DEAD  PROFESSOR.  —  How  TO  DIE  OF  STARVA- 
TION. —  THE  STARVING  POOR.  —  THE  SUN  SPHERES.  —  DYING.  — 
METRON 187-205 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  AWAKENING.  —  IN  THE  SPHERES.  —  THE  LIFE  TRANSFER  RE- 
VERSED. —  THE  RETURN  TO  EARTH  .  .  .  206-216 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

PAGE. 

DIARY  OF  JOHN  CAVENDISH  DUDLEY. — PROFESSOR  VON  MARX'S  HIS- 
TORY.—  THE  PRINCESS. — THE  YOUNG  CHEVALIER. —  "PROSPERO 
AND  ARIEL" 217-244 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
DIARY  CONTINUED.  —  MAGICAL  SEANCES. —THE  NINE  DAYS'  TRIAL.— 

STARVED  TO  DEATH.  —  THE  RESCUE 245-203 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
DIARY  CONTINUED.  —  MAGICAL  SEANCES.  —  THE  CHEVALIER'S  RETURN 

TO  LIFE 264-282 

CHAPTER  XV. 
DIARY  CONTINUED 283-293 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
DIARY  CONTINUED. —A  MYSTIC.  —  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  CHEVALIER     .       294-305 


PART   SECOND. 
INVOCATION.— THE  SOUL'S  LITANIES 309-310 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
INDIA.— RETROSPECT.  — THE  ORDER  OF  THE  UNIVERSE  .       .       .       .       311-322 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  ANGEL  OF  MIDNIGHT.  —  THE  RUINS. —  MAGICIANS.— JUGGLERS.  — 

CHUNDRA  UD  DEEN 323-343 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

DAWNING  LIGHT.  —  THE  BROTHERHOOD.  —  SUBTERRANEAN  REVELA- 
TIONS    .  344-366 

CHAPTER  XX, 
OF  OCCULTISM. —ITS  USES  AND  ABUSES.  —  LOVE,  MARRIAGE,  SPELLS, 

CHARMS,  ETC 367-381 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
THE  ANGEL  OF  MORNING.  —  SPIRITUAL  PROBLEMS  SOLVED.  —  METRON,       382-401 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  ENCHANTRESS. —THE  LADY  BLANCHE.  —  GOOD  AND  EVIL  ANGELS,       402-422 

CHAPTER  XXIIL 
BLACK  MAGIC. —VAUDOOISM 423-440 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
BLACK  MAGIC. —THE  MIDNIGHT  VISITORS  —THE  SACRIFICE.        .       .       441-455 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
DIARY  OF  THE  LADY  BLANCHE.  —  VAUDOOISM.  —  FAREWELL  TO  Louis,       456-468 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CLOSE  OF  THE  LIFE  EPISODE.  — THE  CHEVALIER'S  RECONCILIATION 
WITH  THE  SPIRITS. —THE  PRISON. —How  THE  CHEVALIER  RE- 
TURNED TO  EUROPE.  —  NOTE  .  .  469-485 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE. 


BEFORE  the  subjoined  papers  are  submitted  to  the  critical  reader, 
the  author  desires  most  emphatically  to  protest  against  their  being 
ranked  in  the  same  category  of  literature  as  his  recently  published 
volume  on  "ART  MAGIC." 

The  autobiographical  sketches  now  presented  to  the  public  were 
written,  or  rather  collated  from  private  memoranda,  some  four  years 
since,  at  the  earnest  request  of  Mrs.  Emma  Hardinge  Britten,  and 
that  with  the  simple  design  of  contributing  such  a  series  of  magazine 
papers  to  her  admirable  periodical,  "  The  Western  Star,"  as  would  be 
in  harmony  with  its  general  tone  and  design. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  these  papers  are  only  off-hand  sketches 
of  a  fateful  life,  in  which  striking  illustrations  of  the  spiritual  philoso- 
phy may  be  found  in  a  less  stately  guise  than  abstract  essays,  and 
that  at  most  they  are  only  to  be  considered  as  magazine  sketches,  the 
author  trusts  that  his  work  will  be  held  exempt  from  that  severity  of 
critical  analysis  which  he  would  have  courted  for  l '  Art  Magic  "  had 
it  been  placed  before  the  world  under  similar  circumstances. 

The  only  claim  that  the  author  can  advance  for  the  present  work  is 
that  of  strict  veracit}'.  Although  the  same  reasons  that  induced  him 
to  withhold  his  name  when  it  was  first  produced  prevail  with  him 
to-day,  all  the  incidents  narrated  have  been  faithfully  set  down  with 
the  strictest  regard  to  truth  as  far  as  the  present  volume  carries  the 
history  forward. 

To  the  author  himself  the  details  of  his  life  convey  in  retrospection 
the  most  important  lessons,  but  their  value  to  the  world  is  entirely 
dependent  upon  their  actuality.  As  a  mere  tale  of  fiction  far  more 
interesting  subjects  could  doubtless  have  been  found  in  any  sensational 
novel  or  newspaper  romance;  but  if  the  narratives  herein  detailed 
faithfully  represent  the  mystic  action  of  mind  upon  mind,  the  fearful 
phenomenon  of  obsession,  the  possibility  of  an  actual  life  transfer, 
and  the  interposition  of  beings  in  human  affairs  whose  existence  sup- 
plies the  missing  link  which  connects  the  realm  of  animate  and  inani- 


I 


6  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

mate  nature,  then  is  this  work,  however  crude  in  style  or  imperfect  in 
philosophical  deduction,  a  most  important  and  noteworthy  one. 

It  is  because  it  ought  to  be  thus  regarded,  because  it  narrates  step 
by  step  and  incident  by  incident,  actualities  which  may  one  day  become 
the  experience  of  the  many  rather  than  the  few,  that  the  author  is 
again  persuaded  to  brave  the  idle  sneer  and  vulgar  jeer  of  those  who 
are  only  capable  of  appreciating  the  facts  that  may  have  come  within 
the  narrow  circle  of  their  own  observation.  That  those  persons  who 
call  themselves  "  spiritual  teachers"  and  clainTtcTbe  "interpreters 
and  exponents  "  of  the  spiritual  philosophy  (  ?)  have  not  all  the  truth 
—  nay,  not  even  a  tithe  of  the  experience  necessary  to  qualify  them 
for  the  office  they  have  assumed  —  becomes  more  and  more  painfully 
evident  to  the  earnest  student  into  spiritual  mysteries  the  more  he 
compares  the  immensity  of  the  realms  to  be  traversed  with  the  shallow 
pretences  at  explanation  put  forth  by  the  self-elected  spiritual  teachers 
of  this  generation, 

By  these  great  authorities  occultion  is  assumed  to  be  a  word  invented 
by  a  few  individuals,  whose  chief  aim  is  to  destroy  Spiritualism  and 
substitute  "  black  magic"  iB  its  place,  whilst  occultists  are  renegades, 
who  would  "  roll  back  the /car  of  progress"  (a  favorite  expression,  by 
the  way,  of  those  who  denvy  the  right  of  any  one  to  progress  'beyond 
their  own  standard  of  knowledge)  and  presume  to  add  to  the  sublime 
philosophy  enunciated  through  the  table-tipping  and  trance-speaking 
media  for  "  spirits  of  the  seventh  sphere,"  the  antiquated  stuff  of  Orien- 
tal cabalists,  Chaldean  astrologists,  Hindoo,  Eg}i:>tian,  and  Persian 
magi,  Greek  philosophers,  Arabian  alchemists,  and  mediaeval  Rosicrucian 
mystics.  Of  course  all  these  are  mere  ignoramuses,  who  for  thousands 
of  years  have  been  blundering  through  the  mysteries  of  occult  science, 
which  the  aforesaid  table-tipping  and  seventh-sphere-inspiring  spirits 
instantly  sweep  away  with  the  knock-down  argument  of  ' '  What  I  don't 
know  is  n't  true  ;  and  what  I  can  not  explain  has  no  existence." 

That  the  author  of  "  Ghost  Land"  has  attempted  to  explain  occul- 
tion, or  present  a  concrete  scheme  of  occult  philosophy  in  these  pages, 
must  not  for  one  moment  be  assumed.  He  has  simply  introduced  such 
scenes  in  his  own  life  experience  as  will  ^how  what  a  vast  amount  of 
phenomena  remain  to  be  explained,  which  the  spiritual  philosophy  of 
the  present  day  has  not  touched,  and  which  many  modern  Spiritists, 
following  out  the  rude  and  illogical  example  of  their  own  materialistic 
opponents,  find  it  easier  to  deny  altogether  than  to  elucidate.  No  one 
has  more  faithfully,  humbly,  and  reverently  sought  for  truth  wherever 
it  may  be  found  than  the  author  of  "  Ghost  Land"  ;  yet  he  is  fain  tq 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE,  7 

confess  the  table-tipping  and  trance-inspiring  spirits  of  America  and 
England  have  not,  to  his  blundering  apprehension,  covered  the  whole 
ground  of  the  experiences  which  he  has  ventured  to  detail  in  this 
volume.  When  he  adds  that  an  additional  score  of  years'  experiences 
still  more  wonderful  and  occult  yet  remain  to  be  accounted  for,  and 
that  during  his  wide  wanderings  over  the  world  he  has  encountered 
hundreds  of  individuals  who  have  an  array  of  equally  occult  testimony 
to  render,  the  Illuminee  of  the  modern  spiritual  movement  may  for- 
give him  if  he  ventures  to  question  whether  there  may  not  be  some 
few  things,  scenes,  and  persons  more  in  the  spiritual  universe  than 
their  seven  spheres  of  purely  human  intelligence  can  account  for. 

The  author  could  have  wished  that  his  esteemed  editor  had  dis- 
pensed with  the  chapters  interpolated  by  their  mutual  and  highly  val- 
ued friend,  "  John  Cavendish  Dudley"  ;  not  that  any  portion  of  this 
gentleman's  writings  are  lacking  in  that  strict  fidelity  to  truth  which 
has  been  the  ruling  genius  of  the  entire  work,  whilst  in  style  and 
interest  they  far .  surpass  the  attempts  of  a  foreigner  to  express  his 
ideas  in  an  unfamiliar  language  ;  but  the  author  has  marked  with  deep 
regret  the  many  eulogistic  allusions  to  himself  with  which  Mr.  Dud- 
ley's diary  is  seasoned ;  and  whilst  he  knows  they  are  dictated  in  all 
sincerity  by  a  too  partial  friend,  he  feels  their  association  with  auto- 
biographical sketches  will  subject  him  to  a  charge  of  vanity  which  is 
equally  repulsive  to  his  habits  of  thought  and  action.  On  this  point 
he  has  no  other  excuse  to  offer  than  the  all-potential  will  of  his  editor. 
Mrs.  Hardinge  Britten  alleges  that  the  diary  of  Mr.  Dudley  was  given 
to  her  in  the  same  unconditional  spirit  as  the  "  Ghost  Land"  papers  ; 
also,  that  it  was  not  until  she  came  to  examine  the  MSS.  separately 
that  she  discovered  how  intimately  they  were  related  and  how  impos- 
sible it  would  have  been  to  continue  the  narrative  after  the  eleventh 
chapter  without  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Dudley's  journal. 

When  Mrs.  Hardinge  Britten  further  added  I  WILL  to  I  wish,  the 
author  of  "  Art  Magic,"  himself  the  strongest  possible  pleader  for  the 
omnipotence  of  will,  found  all  his  arguments  on  the  per  contra  of  the 
question  silenced. 

With  arftnal  allegation  that  though  the  style  of  composition  is  all 
too  faulty,  the  details  are  a  faithful  representation  of  facts  known  to 
and  witnessed  by  many  most  honorable  persons  in  the  present  genera- 
tion, the  author  gives  his  work  to  the  winds  of  public  opinion.  Blow 
hot  or  cold  as  they  will,  they  only  represent  the  source  from  whence 
they  come,  but  can  not  make  or  mar  the  work  they  ban  or  bless. 

PUEKTES  GRAXDES, 
THE  HAVANA,  ISLE  DE  CUBA,  1876. 


INTRODUCTION, 


BY  THE  EDITOR. 


THE  following  series  of  papers  was  first  prepared  for  the  press  in 
1872,  when  a  few  ladies  and  gentlemen  interested  in  the  cause  of 
Spiritualism,  and  believing  its  interests  would  be  promoted  by  the 
publication  of  a  high-toned  periodical,  agreed  to  sustain  me  in  the 
production  of  "  The  Western  Star,"  a  magazine  issued  expressly  to 
meet  the  above  design.  As  soon  as  I  had  decided  upon  the  expe- 
diency of  this  undertaking  I  applied  to  several  European  friends  from 
whom  I  deemed  I  might  obtain  literary  assistance  of  the  highest  value, 
and  contributions  which  would  be  more  fresh  to  my  American  readers 
than  those  of  the  writers  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  foremost  and  perhaps  the  most  urgent  applications  I  made  were 
addressed  to  two  gentlemen  from  whose  friendship  for  me  and  their 
talent  as  writers  I  anticipated  the  most  favorable  results.  I  knew 
that  both  had  enjo}red  rare  opportunities  of  research  into  the  realms 
of  spiritual  existence. 

One,  whom  I  shall  henceforth  speak  of  as  the  Chevalier  de  B , 

was,  as  I  well  knew,  a  member  of  several  Oriental  and  European 
societies,  where  he  had  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  initiation  into  the 
ancient  mysteries,  and  opportunities  for  the  study  of  occultism  rarely 
open  to  modern  investigators.  I  had  myself  witnessed  many  evi- 
dences of  this  gentleman's  wonderful  powers  as  a  seer  and  adept  in 
magical  rites,  no  less  than  what  is  now  called  u  medium  ship,"  for 
everj'  conceivable  phase  of  spirit  power.  Already  familiar  with  many 
of  his  remarkable  experiences,  and  believing  I  could  obtain  still  further 
information  on  the  subject  from  his  intimate  and  near  connexion,  an 
English  nobleman,  to  whom  I  give  the  nom  de  plume  of  John  Caven- 
dish Dudley,  I  laid  my  case  before  both  parties,  soliciting  from  them 
such  a  series  of  papers  as  would  embody  their  joint  experiences  in 
Spiritualism  without  impinging  upon  any  points  they  might  desire  to 
reserve  from  the  public  eye.  The  cordial  response  which  I  obtained 
from  these  well-tried  and  valued  friends  was  accompanied,  however, 
with  some  restrictions,  the  most  important  of  which  was  the  positive 
charge  to  withhold  their  names,  also  to  arrange  their  MSS.  under  such 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

veiled  expressions  as  would  effectually  conceal  their  identity.  Both 
gentlemen  were  aware  that  their  personalities  would  be  recognized  by 
their  own  immediate  circle  of  acquaintances  should  the  narratives  ever 
fall  into  such  hands  ;  but  whilst  they  were  most  willing  to  oblige  me, 
and  deemed  their  remarkable  experiences  might  benefit  and  instruct 
many  a  spiritualistic  reader,  they  protested  strongly  against  subjecting 
themselves  to  the  rude  criticism  and  cold  infidelic  sneers  of  an 
uns3rmpathetic  world. 

"  I  would  not  wear  my  heart  upon  my  sleeve  for  daws  to  peck  at," 
said  my  English  friend,  in  the  words  of  the  immortal  bard  of  Avon  ; 

whilst  the  Chevalier  de  B urged  private  and  personal  -reasons  still 

more  stringent.  To  mask  the  identity  of  my  authors  then,  and  even 
maintain  a  strict  incognito  for  all  those  associated  with  them,  became 
the  conditions  upon  which  the  terms  of  my  editorship  in  these  papers 
were  founded. 

Less,  perhaps,  with  a  view  of  enlightening  a  generation  whiph  is 

not  always  prepared  to  recognize  its  need  of  enlightenment,  than  with 

a  desire  to  embellish  my  periodical  with  a  series  of  papers  which  I 

deemed  eminently  worthy  of  the  place   assigned   them,  I  cheerfully 

accepted  the  offer  of  my  two  friends,  subject  to  the  restrictions  they 

'laid  upon  me.     On  examining  the  MSS.  committed  to  my  charge,  I 

/found-  that  I  could  commence  the  publication  of  the  Chevalier  de 

B 's  papers  in  a  serial  entitled  "  Ghost  Land,"  and  from  the  mass 

of  records  furnished  me  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Dudley  I  extracted  the  humor- 
ous and  racy  description  of  that  gentleman's  experiences  in  America, 
to  which  he  had  given  the  caption  of  "  Amongst  the  Spirits."  The 
autobiographical  sketches  of  the  Chevalier  were  written  originally  in 
German,  but  as  I  was  not  sufficiently  familiar  with  that  language  to 
read  .or  .translate  it,  my  kind  friend,  himself  an  excellent  linguist, 
engaged  to  furnish  me  with  a  literal  translation,  —  that  is,  to  render 
his  writings  into  "rough  English,"  and  leave  to  me  the  task  of 
arranging  the  phraseology  and  construction  of  the  sentences.  In 
many  instances  I  found  this  task  unnecessary,  although  in  others  I 
have  had  much  labor  in  re-transcribing,  arranging,  and  compiling 
fragmentary  memoranda,  written  not  unfrequently  in  French  or  imper- 
fect English. 

As  I  proceeded  with  my  work,  I  found  that  the  MSS.  would  be 
wholly  incomplete  without  that  of  Mr.  Dudley,  and  as  I  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  in  possession  of  the  latter's  journal,  I  selected  from  it 
such  chapters  relating  to  the  Chevalier  as  supplied  the  hiatus  in  ques- 
tion,- arid  enabled  me  to  form  a  consecutive  narrative  of  that  gentle- 
man's singular  and  eventful  career. 


INTEODUCTION.  11 

I  encountered  some  opposition  from  both  my  friends  in  this  course 
of  procedure,  the  Chevalier  objecting  strongly  to  the  eulogistic  tone 
adopted  by  *his  friend  in  reference  to  himself,  and  Mr.  Dudley  urging 
me  to  say  more  on  the  same  subject  than  I  deemed  it  prudent  to 
insert.  Another  and  still  graver  difficulty  in  my  path  has  been  the 
necessity  of  transcribing  a  foreigner's  ideas  and  statements  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  in  my  own  language,  and  clothing  thoughts,  opinions, 
and  even  the  framework  of  the  dialogues  given  by  the  author  in  my 
own  form  of  expression.  I  feel  keenly  the  loss  the  reader  must  sus- 
tain in  many  instances  by  this  infusion  of  my  personality  into  the 
author's  sublime  and  exalted  ideality.  I  am  aware,  also,  what  a  han- 
dle it  affords  to  those  untruthful  and  uncandid  critics  who  see  them- 
selves in  others'  acts,  and  who,  being  naturally  deceptive  and  tricky 
themselves,  cannot  recognize  truth  and  honesty  even  when  it  stares 
them  in  the  face. 

Although  I  have  been  and  shall  be  again,  induced  from  the  force  of 

circumstances  to  mask  the  noble  sentiments  of  the  Chevalier  de  B 

in  my  own  peculiarities  of  style,  I  have  in  vain  labored  to  persuade 
him  to  place  his  works  in  other  hands  or  avail  himself  of  a  less  pro- 
noncee  style  of  compilation.  Had  I  not  devoted  myself  to  this  work 
it  would  never  have  been  accomplished,  and  that  thought  has  been  my 
chief  recompense  for  the  slander  and  misrepresentation  that  has  been 
cast  on  my  share  of  the  publication.  Although  my  friend's  courtesy 
has  induced  him  to  treat  these  misrepresentations  lightly,  and  even  to 
allege  that  he  felt  honored  in  hearing  the  authorship  of  his  works 
attributed  to  me,  such  a  slander  upon  him,  no  less  than  the  wrong 
done  to  my  veracity  and  the  character  for  straightforward  candor 
which  I  deemed  my  life  had  earned,  has  been  the  worst  stab  nry  ene- 
mies could  have  inflicted  upon  me,  and  calls  for  this  explanation  con- 
cerning the  necessary  share  which  I  have  had  in  characterizing  the 
Chevalier  de  B 's  writings. 

In  view  of  the  stringent  charge  I  received  from  each  of  my  authors, 
not  only  to  preserve  their  incognito,  but  even  to  represent  an  ideal 
personage  as  the  vehicle  of  the  thoughts  rendered,  I  drew  up  an  intro- 
ductory sketch  of  the  supposed  author  of  "  Ghost  Land,"  which  I 
printed  in  the  first  number  of  "  The  Western  Star." 

In  becoming  more  familiar  with  the  later  portions  of  the  autobiog- 
raplvy,  I  found  that  the  author  had  stated  the  real  events  of  his  life  so 
candidly,  and  alluded  to  the  various  dates  and  epochs  that  marked  it 
with  such  fidelity  of  detail,  that  my  ideal  sketch  had  to  be  abandoned  ; 
the  two  histories  would  not  cohere  together :  hence  in  republishing  the 
first  five  chapters  of  ' '  Ghost  Land  "  in  their  present  form  I  have  felt 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

obliged  to  present  the  author  in  his  real  character  from  beginning  to 
end  ;  and  although  I  have  observed  all  the  other  restrictions  laid  upon 
me  in  respect  to  the  names  of  persons  and  places,  the  incidents  of  this 
strange  life  are  so  TRUE,  so  candidly  and  simply  detailed,  that  I  doubt 
whether  the  lovers  of  fiction  will  be  able  to  recognize  that  truth,  and 
I  shall  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  the  whole  narrative  is  a  made- 
up  affair. 

I  have  some  reason  to  believe  this  view  would  not  be  displeasing  to 
the  author  himself,  who,  although  compelled  to  write  under  the  efflatus 
of  the  same  power  that  obliges  the  ' '  sib}4  to  vaticinate  "  even  when 
she  is  not  believed  in,  still  feels  sensitively  opposed  to  parading  his 
peculiar  and  often  most  painful  personal  experiences  before  a  hard, 
unkind,  and  unsympathetic  world.  I,  on  the  contrary,  have  a  deep 
and  religious  interest  in  urging  the  exact  truth  of  these  experiences,  and 
as  I  have  been  mainly  instrumental  in  inducing  my  friend  to  narrate 
them,  I  would  gladly,  most  gladty,  add  the  lustre  of  a  far  more 
authoritative  name  than  my  own  to  the  solemn  assurance  th'at  they  are 
all  literal  transcripts  of  history,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  studied  and 
classified  by  every  philosophic  thinker  as  amongst  the  rarest  and  most 
important  ps3rchological  facts  on  record. 

It  simply  remains  for  me  to  explain  how  and  why  this  autobiography 
appears  at  this  particular  time.  I  need  not  remind  those  of  my  read- 
ers who  may  have  been  subscribers  to  "  The  Western  Star,"  that  just 
after  the  issue  of  the  sixth  number,  the  occurrence  of  the  disastrous 
Boston  fires  and  the  immense  losses  sustained  by  some  of  my  princi- 
pal supporters,  compelled  me  to  suspend  that  periodical ;  but  immedi- 
ately upon  the  announcement  of  this  suspension  and  up  to  the  present 
time  I  have  been  literally  besieged  with  requests  to  issue  a  reprint  and 
continuance  of  "  Ghost  Land,"  my  correspondents  assuring  me  that 
those  delightful  and  absorbing  papers  were  more  to  them  than  all  the 
rest  of  the  magazine.  The  same  request  has  been  repeatedly  made 
in  reference  to  the  articles  of  Mr.  Dudley,  entitled  "Amongst  the 
Spirits."  In  a  word,  the  high  appreciation  accorded  to  those  two 
serials  made  me  often  regret  that  leisure  and  opportunity  were  not 
afforded  me  for  their  publication  in  separate  and  continuous  forms. 

It  was  some  three  years  after  the  suspension  of  ' '  The  Western 

Star"  that  my  esteemed  friend,  the  Chevalier  de  B ,  made  a  second 

visit  to  the  United  States,  travelling  as  was  his  custom  in  a  private 
and  unostentatious  manner  under  an  incognito,  and  emplo}'ing  his  time 
in  the  observation  and  study  of  those  spiritualistic  facts  which  it  has 
been  the  main  object  of  his  life  to  gather  up.  It  was  then  that  I 
learned  from  him  that  two  works,  the  scheme  of  which  he  had  often 


INTKODUCTION.  13 

laid  out  in  project  to  me,  were  nearly  completed ;  and  as  he  was  unable 
to  undertake  the  fatigue  and  master  the  harassing  details  of  their 
publication,  he  offered  to  present  me  with  the  MSS.,  although  he 
wished  that  their  production  should  be  deferred  for  a  stated  period. 

One  of  the  MSS.  thus  intrusted  to  me  was  "  Art  Magic."  It  was 
written,  like  u  Ghost  Land,"  partly  in  French  and  partly  rendered  into 
English,  for  the  sake  of  aiding  me  in  its  translation.  Much  of  the 
language  I  found  capable  of  representing  the  author's  ideas  without 
any  alteration ;  but  the  whole  work  struck  me  as  so  important,  sub- 
lime, and  beautiful  that  I  urged  upon  my  friend  its  immediate  produc- 
tion without  waiting  for  further  contingencies. 

Tendering  all  the  services  I  deemed  likely  to  be  available  on  the 
occasion,  I  at  last  succeeded  in  overcoming  the  Chevalier's  reticence, 
and  provided  that  I  would  give  it  to  the  world  under  the  conditions 
which  he  dictated,  he  said  the  work  was  at  my  disposal.  My  friend 
then  laid  down  those  conditions  of  publication  which  have  called  forth 
the  clouds  of  abuse,  scandal,  and  insult  which  it  has  been  my  privilege 
to  endure  in  so  good  a  cause,  and  I  dictated  the  financial  terms  by 
which  I  had  hoped  to  save  him  from  loss.  In  this  respect  the 
results  belong  to  ourselves,  not  to  the  world.  It  is  enough  that  I 
have  been  instrumental  in  launching  a  noble  work  upon  the  ocean  of 
human  thought.  Many  a  bitter  experience  has  been  added  to  those 
which  both  author  and  editor  have  had  to  endure,  many  that  might 
have  been  more  gracefully  spared  by  those  who  inflicted  them.  The 
effect  of  these  experiences,  however,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  notice  a 
little  more  in  detail,  for  it  is  evident  they  have  not  fulfilled  the  exact 
purpose  with  which  they  were  freighted.  In  the  first  place,  they  have 
taught  the  sensitive  author  to  rise  superior  to  all  human  opinion,  by 
showing  him  that  which  the  editor  has  long  since  understood,  namety, 
that  there  is  always  a  certain  amount  of  journalistic  criticism  which 
can  be  bought  or  sold,  according  to  the  purchaser's  disposition  or  means 
of  payment ;  another  class  from  which  praise  would  be  dishonor ;  still 
another,  who  never  waste  time  one  way  or  the  other  on  any  subject 
that  is  not  a  marketable  commodity  and  likely  to  pay  well ;  and  a 
fourth  class,  but  one  alas !  greatly  in  the  minority,  who  can  and  will 
recognize  truth  and  beauty  wherever  they  find  it :  and  to  this  class 
"  Art  Magic  "  has  indeed  been  "  the  gem  of  spiritualistic  effort  of  this 
and  every  other  generation." 

All  this  the  author  has  had  to  learn.  That  he  was  not  entirely 
ignorant  of  the  crucible  through  which  his  work  would  have  had  to 
pass  had  it  been  published  for  "  the  masses"  instead  of  the  few,  he 
himself  proved,  as  I  find  in  a  letter  addressed  to  me  on  this  very  sub- 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

/ 

ject  the  following  complimentary  expressions  of  opinion  concerning  the 
"  great  public"  :  — 

"  The  masses,  to  whom  .you  so  enthusiastically  would  have  me  com- 
mend the  perusal  of  '  Art  Magic,'  ever  halt  between  two  horns  of  a 
dilemma.  If  you  tell  them  what  they  do  not  already  know,  they  will 
cr}',  4  We  can  not  understand  this  writer  ! '  If  you  repeat  old  truths, 
no  matter  how  new  may  be  your  methods  of  representation,  they  will 
scream  against  you  for  telling  them  nothing  new  ;  and  herein  lies  the 
real  power  of  the  critic,  which  is  just  to  tell  the  world,  according  to 
his  own  personal  predilections,  what  that  poor  imbecile  thing  ought  to 
believe  or  reject,  exalt  to  the  skies  or  trample  in  the  dust." 

I  have  learned  something  as  well  as  the  author  in  this  publication, 
for  despite  the  infamous  slanders  of  one  part  of  a  press  calling  itself 
"  spiritual,"  and  the  significant  silence  of  others,  the  subscribers  to 
this  work  have  in  general  been  of  that  class  which  bravely  and  boldly 
takes  the  task  of  thinking  into  its  own  hands ;  hence  they  have  not 
only  written  to  me  in  the  most  glowing  and  enthusiastic  praise  of  this 
"  great  and  sublime  work,"  but  they  have  insisted  upon  having  some- 
thing more  from  the  same  "  facile  and  fascinating  pen." 

Now,  although  this  gentleman  has  submitted  to  me  the  rough  draft 
of  a  still  more  elaborate  exposition  of  the  subjects  on  which  "Art 
Magic "  treats  than  even  that  admirable  work  itself,  it  may  be  some 
time  before  it  can  be  completed  and  ready  for  press.  In  the  interim 
the  continued  demand  for  ' '  another  work  from  the  same  author " 
induces  me  to  turn  my  attention  to  the  long-promised  continuation  of 
"Ghost  Land,"  the  deeply  interesting  and  instructive  character  of 
which  is  fully  equal  to  "Art  Magic";  and  besides,  I  am  still  more 
inclined  to  pursue  this  course  from  the  very  natural  and  spontaneous 
desire  of  many  readers  to  know  more  about  the  gifted  individual  who 
wrote  "  Art  Magic.  That  these  autobiographical  sketches  will  prove 
as  acceptable  as  they  are  instructive  I  can  not  doubt,  and  I  once  more 
commend  them  to  the  reader  with  the  assurance  that,  though  the  truths 
in  these  pages  are,  as  truth  generally  is,  stranger  than  fiction,  I 
respect  myself  and  my  friend  too  highly  to  apologize  further  for  the 
fact  that  some  of  those  truths  may  be  unprecedented,  hence  difficult  of 
realization. 

I  now  commit  the  precious  MSS.  intrusted  to  me  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  a  world  of  which  my  respectful  but  candid  opinion  may  be 
gathered  from  the  aphorism  which  has  been  my  life's  motto,  and  the 
one  which  has  urged  me  forward  to  the  publi cation  of  this  volume, 
namely,  "  The  truth  against  the  world  !  " 

Boston,  1876.  EMMA  HARDINGE  BRITTEN. 


GHOST   LAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON   THE   THRESHOLD 

As  the  sole  object  of  these  sketches  has  been  to  pre- 
sent to  the  investigator  into  spiritual  mysteries  some 
experiences  of  a  singular  and  exceptional  character,  I 
would  gladly  have  recorded  them  as  isolated  facts,  or 
even  communicated  their  curious  details  to  such  Spiritu- 
alistic journalists  as  might  have  deemed  them  worthy  of 
a  place  in  their  columns ;  but  on  attempting  to  arrange 
them  in  such  a  form  as  would  accord  with  this  design, 
I  found  it  impossible  to  separate  the  phenomenal  por- 
tions of  the  history  from  the  person  with  whom  they 
were  most  immediately  connected. 

Had  I  been  a  mere  spectator  of  the  scenes  detailed,  I 
could  have  easily  reduced  them  to  narrative  form,  but  as 
in  most  instances  I  was  either  the  w  medium "  through 
whom  the  phenomena  worthy  of  record  transpired,  or 
their  interest  was  derived  from  their  association  with 
a  consecutive  history,  I  found  I  must  either  relinquish 
the  design  of  contributing  my  experiences  to  the  world, 
or  consent  to  the  repulsive  task  of  identifying  them  with 
one  who  has  sufficient  reason  to  shrink  from  publicity, 
and  sighs  for  nothing  so  much  as  the  peaceful  retirement 
which  should  precede  the  last  farewell  to  earth.  As  my 
own  desires  have  been  completely  overruled  by  one  whose 


18  GHOST  LAND. 

wishes  I  gladly  prefer  to  my  own,  I  find  myself  either 
obliged  to  identify  my  Spiritualistic  experiences  with  a 
fictitious  personage,  or  accept  the  repulsive  alternative 
of  adding  to  the  many  characters  I  have  been  compelled 
to  act  out  on  the  stage  of  life's  tragic  drama  the  unwel- 
come one  of  an  autobiographer. 

For  many  reasons  unnecessary  to  detail,  I  have  a  spe- 
cial dislike  to  tales  of  fiction.  Life  is  all  too  real,  too 
thoroughly  momentous,  to  be  travestied  by  fictional  rep- 
resentations. Truth  appeals  to  the  consciousness  of  true 
natures  with  much  more  earnestness  than  fiction;  and 
Spiritualistic  narratives  in  particular,  as  pointing  the  way 
on  a  new  path  of  discovery,  and  one  wherein  the  eternal 
interests  of  the  race  are  concerned,  are  simply  degraded 
by  fictional  contrivances.  Even  the  too  common  ten- 
dency to  exaggerate  the  marvels  of  Spiritualistic  phe- 
nomena should  be  carefully  avoided,  for  the  sake  of 
arriving  at  the  heart  of  truths  so  important  and  unfa- 
miliar as  those  which  relate  to  the  spiritual  side  of  man's 
nature. 

It  is  with  these  reverential  views  of  truth  that  I  enter 
upon  the  task  of  narrating  my  singular  and  exceptional 
experiences.  The  only  departure  I  have  permitted  my- 
self to  make  from  the  line  of  stern  and  ungarbled  fact 
is  in  relation  to  my  own  identity  and  that  of  the  persons 
associated  with  me.  My  reasons  for  suppressing  my  real 
name,  and  in  every  possible  way  veiling  the  identity  of 
those  connected  with  me,  are  imperative,  and  if  fully 
understood  would  be  fully  appreciated.  In  all  other 
respects  I  am  about  to  enter  upon  a  candid  history  of 
myself,  so  far  as  I  am  connected  with  the  incidents  I 
am  required  to  detail. 

My  father  was  a  Hungarian  nobleman,  but  having 
deemed  himself  wronged  by  the  ruling  government  of 


GHOST  LAND.  19 

* 

his  country,  he  virtually  renounced  it,  and  -being  con- 
nected on  the  mother's  side  with  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful native  princes  of  India,  from  whom  he  received 
tempting  offers  of  military  and  official  distinction,  he 
determined  to  prepare  himself  for  his  new  career  by  the 
requisite  course  of  study  in  England;  hence,  the  belief 
very  generally  prevailed  that  he  was  an  English  officer, 
an  opinion  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  for  many  years 
he  abandoned  his  title,  and  substituted  for  the  rank  which 
he  had  once  held  in  his  native  country  that  which  was 
to  him  far  more  honorable,  namely,  a  military  distinction 
won  on  the  battle-fields  of  India  by  services  of  the  most 
extraordinary  gallantry.  Before  his  departure  for  the 
East  my  father  had  married  a  beautiful  Italian  lady, 
and  as  he  resolved  to  maintain  his  Hungarian  title  and 
estates,  barren  as  they  were,  for  the  benefit  of  his 
children,  he  left  his  eldest  son,  my  only  brother,  in  Aus- 
tria, for  education,  in  the  charge  of  near  relatives.  I 
was  born  on  the  soil  of  Hindostan  shortly  after  my 
parents  arrived  there,  and  as  my  eldest  brother  died 
when  I  was  about  ten  years  of  age,  I  was  sent  to  Europe 
to  take  his  place,  receive  a  European  education,  and 
become  formally  installed  into  the  empty  dignity,  title, 
and  heirship  of  our  Hungarian  estates.  As  my  poor 
father  tenaciously  adhered  to  these  shadowy  dignities 
for  his  children,  even  though  he  despised  and  rejected 
them  for  himself,  I  was  accustomed  from  early  child- 
hood to  hear  myself  addressed  as  the  Chevalier  de 

B ,  and  taught  to  believe,  when  my  brother  died, 

I  had  become  the  heir  of  a  noble  house,  the  prerogatives 
of  which  I  have  never  realized,  except  in  the  form  of 
the  same  wrong,  oppression,  and  political  tyranny  which 
made  my  father  an  alien  and  a  professed  subject  of  a 
foreign  power. 


20  GHOST  LAND. 

% 

I  was  about  twelve  years  of  age,  as  well  as  I  can 
remember,  when,  returning  one  day  late  in  the  afternoon 
from  the  college  I  attended  at  B.,  just  as  I  was  about 
to  enter  the  gate  of  the  house  where  I  boarded,  I  felt 
a  hand  laid  on  my  shoulder,  and  looking  round,  I  saw 
myself  confronted  with  one  of  my  teachers,  a  man  who, 
during  the  period  of  my  ten  months',  study  hi  that  place, 
had  exerted  a  singular  and  irresistible  influence  over  me. 
He  was  a  professor  of  Oriental  languages,  and  though 
I  had  not  been  regularly  entered  in  his  class,  I  had 
joined  it  because  he  one  day  suddenly  asked  me  to  do 
so,  and  I  as  suddenly  felt  impelled  to  accept  his  offer. 
From  the  very  moment  that  I  entered  Professor  von 
Marx's  class,  I  became  absorbed  in  the  study  of  East- 
ern literature,  and  the  proficiency  I  made  was  doubtless 
owing  to  my  desire  to  master  the  subjects  to  which 
these  Oriental  tongues  formed  the  key.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  from  which  I  commence  my  narrative, 
Professor  von  Marx  had  abruptly  asked  me  if  I  were 
a  dreamer.  I  replied  in  the  negative,  adding  that  I 
thought  I  often  dreamed  something,  but  the  memory 
of  what  it  might  be  only  remained  with  me  on  awaking 
sufficiently  long  to  impress  me  with  the  opinion  that  I 
had  been  somewhere  in  my  sleep,  but  had  forgotten 
where.  When  the  professor  touched  me  on  the  shoul- 
der, as  above  mentioned,  at  my  own  doorstep,  he  said, — 

"L'ouis,  my  boy,  how  would  you  like  to  have  some 
dreams  that  you  could  remember,  and  go  to  places  in 
your  sleep  from  which  you  should  return  and  give 
accounts  of  ?  " 

"O  professor!"  I  exclaimed,  in  astonishment,  "could 
I  do  this,  and  how?"  * 

"Come  with  me,  boy,"  replied  my  teacher.  "  I  belong- 
to  a  philosophical  society,  the  existence  or  at  least  the 


GHOST  LAND.  21 

real  nature  of  which  is  but  little  known.  "We  want  the 
aid  of  a  good  smart  lad,  like  you,  especially  one  who  is 
not  a  conscious  dreamer.  I  have  long  had  my  eye 
upon  you,  and  I  think  I  can  not  only  trust  you  with  our 
secrets,  but,  by  making  you  a  partaker  of  them,  instruct 
you  in  lore  of  great  wisdom,  which  few  children  of  your 
age  would  be  thought  worthy  to  know." 

Flattered  by  this  confidence,  and  more  than  usually 
thrilled  by  the  strange  shivering  which  always  seemed 
to  follow  the  touch  of  the  professor's  hand,  I  suffered 
myself  to  be  led  on  until  I  reached  with  him  the  fourth 
story  of  a  large  house  in  a  very  quiet  part  of  the  city, 
where  I  was  speedily  introduced  into  an  apartment  of 
spacious  dimensions,  parted  off  by  screens  and  curtains 
into  many  subdivisions,  and  half  filled  with  an  assem- 
blage of  gentlemen,  several  of  whom,  to  my  surprise, 
I  recognized  as  belonging  to  the  college,  some  to  neigh- 
boring literary  institutions,  and  two  others  as  members 
of  one  of  the  princely  families  of  Germany. 

There  was  an  air  of  mystery  and  caution  attending 
our  entrance  into  this  place  and  my  subsequent  intro- 
duction to  the  company,  which  inclined  me  to  believe 
that  this  was  a  meeting  of  one  of  those  secret  societies 
that,  young  as  I  was,  I  knew  to  have  been  strictly  for- 
bidden by  the  government;  hence  the  idea  that  I  was 
making  one  of  an  illegal  gathering  impressed  me  with 
a  sentiment  of  fear  and  a  restless  desire  to  be 'gone. 
Apparently  these  unexpressed  feelings  were  understood 
by  my  teacher,  for  he  addressed  me  in  a  low  voice, 
assuring  me  that  I  was  in  the  society  of  gentlemen  of 
honor  and  respectability,  that  my  presence  there  had 
only  been  solicited  to  assist  them  in  certain  philosophi- 
cal experiments  they  were  conducting,  and  that  I  should 
soon  find  cause  to  congratulate  myself  that  I  had  been 


22  GHOST  LAND. 

so  highly  favored  as  to  be  inducted  into  their  associa- 
tion. 

Whilst  he  spoke  the  professor  laid  his  hand  on  my 
head,  and  continued  to  hold  it  there,  at  first  with  a 
seemingly  slight  and  accidental  pressure;  but  ere  he 
had  concluded  his  address,  the  weight  of  that  hand 
appeared  to  me  to  increase  to  an  almost  unendurable 
extent.  Like  a  mountain  bearing  down  upon  my  shoul- 
ders, columns  of  fiery,  cloud-like  matter  seemed  to 
stream  from  the  professor's  fingers,  enter  my  whole 
being,  and  finally  crush  me  beneath  their  terrific  force 
into  a  state  where  resistance,  appeal,  or  even  speech 
was  impossible.  A  vague  feeling  that  death  was  upon 
me  filled  my  bewildered  brain,  and  a  sensation  of  an 
undefinable  yearning  to  escape  from  a  certain  thraldom 
in  which  I  believed  myself  to  be  held,  oppressed  me 
with  agonizing  force.  At  length  it  seemed  as  if  this 
intense  longing  for  liberation  was  gratified.  I  stood, 
and  seemed  to  myself  to  stand,  free  of  the  professor's 
crushing  hand,  free  of  my  body,  free  of  every  clog  or 
chain  but  an  invisible  and  yet  quite  tangible  cord 
which  connected  me  with  the  form  I  had  worn,  but 
which  now,  like  a  garment  I  had  put  off,  lay  sleeping  in 
an  easy-chair  beneath  me.  As  for  my  real  self,  I  stood 
balanced  in  air,  as  I  thought  at  first,  about  four  feet 
above  and  a  little  on  one  side  of  my  slumbering  mortal 
envelope;  presently,  however,  I  perceived  that  I  was 
treading  on  a  beautiful  crystalline  form  of  matter,  pure 
and  transparent,  and  hard  as  a  diamond,  but  sparkling, 
bright,  luminous,  and  ethereal.  There  was  a  wonderful 
atmosphere,  too,  surrounding  me  on  all  sides.  Above 
and  about  me,  it  was  discernible  as  a  radiant,  sparkling 
mist,  enclosing  my  form,  piercing  the  walls  and  ceiling, 
and  permitting  my  vision  to  take  in  an  almost  illimitable 


GHOST  LAND.  23 

area  of  space,  including  the  city,  fields,  plains,  moun- 
tains, and  scenery,  together  with  the  firmament  above 
my  head,  spangled  with  stars,  and  irradiated  by  the  soft 
beams  of  the  tranquil  moon.  All  this  vast  realm  of 
perception  opened  up  before  me  in  despite  of  the  enclos- 
ing walls,  ceiling,  and  other  obstacles  of  matter  which 
surrounded  me.  These  were  obstacles  no  more.  I  saw 
through  them  as  if  they  had  been  thin  air;  and  what  is 
more  I  knew  I  could  not  only  pass  through  them  with 
perfect  ease,  but  that  any  piece  of  ponderable  matter  in 
the  apartment,  the  very  furniture  itself,  if  it  were  only 
brought  into  the  solvent  of  the  radiant  fire  mist  that 
surrounded  me,  would  dissolve  and  become,  like  me 
and  like  my  atmosphere,  so  soluble  that  it  could  pass, 
just  as  I  could,  through  everything  material.  I  saw, 
or  seemed  to  see,  that  I  was  now  all  force;  that  I 
was  soul  loosed  from  the  body  save  by  the  invisible 
cord  which  connected  me  with  it;  also,  that  I  was  in 
the  realm  of  soul,  the  soul  of  matter;  and  that  as  my 
soul,  and  the .  soul-realm  in  which  I  had  now  entered, 
was  the  real  force  which  kept  matter  together,  I  could 
just  as  easily  break  the  atoms  apart  and  pass  through 
them  as  one  can  put  a  solid  body  into  the  midst  of 
water  or  air. 

Suddenly  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  would  try  this  newly 
discovered  power,  and  observing  that  the  college  cap 
I  had  worn  on  my  poor  lifeless  body's  head  was  lying 
idly  in  the  hands,  I  made  an  effort  to  reach  it.  To  suc- 
ceed, however,  I  found  I  must  come  into  contact  with  a 
singular  kind  of  blue  vapor  which  for  the  first  time  I 
noticed  to  be  issuing  from  my  body,  and  surrounding  it 
like  a  second  self. 

Whilst  I  was  gazing  at  this  curious  phenomenon  I  felt 
impressed  to  look  at  the  other  persons  in  the  room,  and 


24  GHOST  LAND. 

I  then  observed  that  a  similar  aura  or  luminous  se  t*ri4 
self  issued  from  every  one  of  them.  The  color  and  den- 
sity of  each  one  varied,  and  by  carefully  regarding  the 
nature  of  these  mists,  or  as  I  have  since  learned  to  call 
them  "photospheres,"  I  could  correctly  discern  the  char- 
acter, motives,  and  past  lives  of  these  individuals. 

I  became  so  deeply  absorbed  in  tracing  the  images, 
shapes,  scenes,  and  revelations  that  were  depicted  on 
these  men's  souls  that  I  forgot  my  design  of  appropriat- 
ing the  cap  I  had  worn,  until  I  noticed  that  the  emana- 
tions of  Professor  von  Marx,  assuming  the  hue  of  a 
shining  rose  tint,  seemed  to  permeate  and  commingle 
with  the  bluish  vapor  that  issued  from  my  form.  I  no- 
ticed then  another  phenomenon.  When  the  two  vapors 
or  photospheres  were  thoroughly  commingled,  they  too 
became  force,  like  my  soul  and  like  the  realm  of  soul  in 
which  I  was  standing.  To  perceive,  in  the  state  into 
which  I  was  inducted,  was  to  see,  hear,  taste,  smell,  and 
understand  all  things  in  one  new  sense.  I  knew  that  as 
a  mortal  I  could  not  use  more  than  one  or  two  of  the 
senses  at  a  time ;  but  as  a  soul,  I  could  realize  all  sensa- 
tions through  one  master  sense,  perception;  also,  that 
this  sublime  and  exalted  sixth  sense  informed  me  of  far 
more  than  all  which  the  other  senses  separately  could 
have  done.  Suddenly  a  feeling  of  triumph  possessed 
me  at  the  idea  of  knowing  and  understanding  so  much 
more  than  the  grave  and  learned  professors  into  whose 
company  I  had  entered  as  a  timid,  shrinking  lad,  but 
whom  I  now  regarded  with  contempt,  because  their 
knowledge  was  so  inferior  to  mine,  and  pity,  because 
they  could  not  conceive  of  the  new  functions  and  con- 
sequent enjoyments  that  I  experienced  as  a  liberated 
soul. 

There  was  another  revelation  impressed  upon  me  at 


GHOST  LAND.  25 

tli at  time,  and  one  which  subsequent  experiences  have 
quickened  into  stupendous  depths  of  consciousness.  It 
was  this :  I  saw,  as  I  have  before  stated,  upon  my  com- 
panions, in  distinct  and  vivid  characters,  the  events  of 
their  past  lives  and  the  motives  which  had  prompted 
them  to  their  acts.  Now  it  became  to  me  clear  as  sun- 
light that  one  set  of  motives  were  wrong,  and  another 
right;  and  that  one  set  of  actions  (those  prompted  by 
wrong  motives,  I  mean)  produced  horrible  deformities' 
and  loathsome  appearances  on  the  photosphere,  whilst 
the  other  set  of  actions  (prompted  by  the  motives  which 
I  at  once  detected  as  right)  seemed  to  illuminate  the 
soul  aura  with  indescribable  brightness,  and  cast  a 
halo  of  such  beauty  and  radiance  over  the  whole  being, 
that  one  old  man  in  particular,  who  was  of  a  singularly 
uncomely  and  withered  appearance  as  a  mortal,  shone,  I 
as  a  soul,  in  the  light  of  his  noble  life  and  glorious  ema- 
nations, like  a  perfect  angel.  I  could  now  write  a  folio 
volume  on  the  interior  disclosures  which  are  revealed  to 
the  soul's  eye,  and  which  are  hidden  away  or  unknown 
to  the  bodily  senses.  I  cannot  pause  upon  them  now, 
though  I  think  it  would  be  well  if  we  would  write  many 
books  on  this  subject,  provided  men  would  read  and 
believe  them.  In  that  case,  I  feel  confident,  human 
beings  would  shrink  back  aghast  and  terror-stricken 
from  crime,  or  even  from  bad  thoughts,  so  hideous  do 
they  show  upon  the  soul,  and  so  full  of  torment  and 
pain  does  the  photosphere  become  that  is  charged  with 
evil.  I  saw  in  one  very  fine  gentleman's  photosphere 
the  representation  of  all  sorts  of  the  most  foul  and  dis- 
gusting reptiles.  These  images  seemed  to  form,  as  it 
were,  out  of  his  misty  emanations,  whilst  upon  his  soul 
I  perceived  sores  and  frightful  marks  that  convinced 
me  he  was  not  only  a  libertine  and  a  sensualist,  but  a 


26  GHOST  LAND. 

man  imbued  with  many  base  and  repulsive  traits  of 
character. 

What  I  saw  that  night  made  me  afraid  of  crime, 
afraid  to  cherish  bad  thoughts  or  harbor  bad  motives, 
and  with  all  my  faults  and  shortcomings  in  after  life,  I 
have  never  forgotten,  or  ceased  to  try  and  live  out,  the 
awful  lessons  of  warning  I  then  learned.  I  must  here 
state  that  what  may  have*  taken  me  some  fifteen  min- 
utes or  more  to  write,  flashed  upon  my  perceptions 
nearly  all  at  once,  and  its  comprehension,  in  much  fuller 
detail  than  I  have  here  given,  could  not  have  occupied 
more  than  a  few  seconds  of  time  to  arrive  at. 

By  this  time,  that  at  which  I  now  write,  w  clairvoy- 
ance," as  the  soul's  perceptions  are  called,  has  become 
too  common  a  faculty  to  interest  the  world  much  by  its 
elaborate  description.  Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  it  was 
too  much  of  a  marvel  to  obtain  general  credit;  but  I 
question  whether  those  who  then  watched  its  powers 
and  properties  did  not  study  them  with  more  profound 
appreciation  and  understanding  than  they  do  now,  when 
it  seems  to  be  a  gift  cultivated  for  very  little  use  be- 
yond that  of  affording  a  means  of  livelihood,  and  too 
frequently  opens  up  opportunities  of  deception  for  the 
quack  doctor  or  pretended  fortune-teller.  But  to  re- 
sume my  narrative. 

I  had  not  been  long  free  from  the  fetters  of  my  sleep- 
ing body  and  the  professor's  magical  hand,  when  he 
bent  down  over  my  form  and  said,  — 

!<  Louis,  I  WILL  you  to  remember  all  that  transpires 
in  the  mesmeric  sleep;  also,  I  desire  that  you  should 
speak,  and  relate  to  us,  as  far  as  you  can,  all  that  you 
now  see  and  hear." 

In  an  instant  the  wish  of  my  childish  life,  the  one  in- 
cessant yearning  that  possessed  my  waking  hours,  re- 


GHOST  LAND.  27 

turned  to  me,  namely,  the  desire  to  behold  my  dearly 
loved  mother,  from  whom  I  had  been  separated  for  the 
past  two  years.  "With  the  flash  of  my  mother's  image 
across  my  mind,  I  seemed  to  be  transported  swiftly 
across  an  immense  waste  of  waters,  to  behold  a  great 
city,  w^here  strange-looking  buildings  were  discernible, 
and  where  huge  domes,  covered  with  brilliant  metals, 
flashed  in  a  burning,  tropical  sun.  Whirled  through 
space,  a  thousand  new  and  wondrous  sights  gleamed  a^ 
moment  before  my  eyes,  then  vanished.  Then  I  found 
myself  standing  beneath  the  shade  of  a  group  of  tall 
palm-trees,  gazing  upon  a  beautiful  lady  who  lay 
stretched  upon  a  couch,  shaded  by  the  broad  verandah 
of  a  stately  bungalow,  whilst  half  a  dozen  dusky  fig- 
ures, robed  in  white,  with  bands  of  gold  around  their 
bare  arms  and  ankles,  waved  immense  fans  over  her, 
and  seemed  to  be  busy  in  ministering  to  her  refresh- 
ment. w  Mother,  mother  I "  I  cried,  extending  my  arms 
towards  the  well-known  image  of  the  being  dearest  to 
me  on  earth.  As  I  spoke,  I  could  see  that  my  voice 
caused  no  vibration  in  the  air  that  surrounded  my 
mother's  couch;  still  the  impression  produced  by  my 
earnest  will  affected  her.  I  saw  a  light  play  around 
her  head,  which,  strange  to  relate,  assumed  my  exact 
form,  shape,  and  attitude,  only  that  it  was  a  singularly 
petite  miniature  resemblance.  As  it  flickered  over  the 
sensorium,  she  raised  her  eyes  from  her  book,  and  fixing 
them  upon  the  exact  point  in  space  where  I  stood,  mur- 
mured, in  a  voice  that  seemed  indescribably  distant, 
w  My  Louis  !  my  poor,  far-away,  deserted  child  !  would 
I  could  see  thee  now." 

At  this  moment  the  will  of  my  magnetizer  seemed  to 
intervene  between  me  and  my  unexpected  vision. 

I  caught  his  voice  saying  in  stern  tones,  "Do  not 


28  GHOST  LAND. 

interfere,  Ilerr  Eschenmayer.  I  do  not  wish  him  to  see 
his  mother,  and  the  tidings  he  could  bring  from  her 
would  not  interest  us." 

Some  one  replied ;  for  I  felt  that  the  professor  listened, 
though  for  some  cause  unknown  to  me  then,  I  could  not 
hear  any  voice  but  his.  Again  he  spoke  and  said,  "  I 
wish  him  to  visit  our  society  at  Hamburgh,  and  bring  us 
some  intelligence  of  what  they  are  doing  there."  As  the 
words  were  uttered,  I  saw  for  one  brief  second  of  time 
my  mother's  form,  the  couch  whereon  she  lay,  the  veran- 
dah, bungalow,  and  all  the  objects  that  surrounded  her, 
turn  upside-down,  like  forms  seen  in  a  reversed  mirror, 
and  then  the  whole  scene  changed.  Cities,  villages, 
roads,  mountains,  valleys,  oceans,  flitted  before  my  gaze, 
crowding  up  their  representation  in  a  single  instant  of 
time,  and  ending  their  panoramic  delineation  in  a  large 
and  splendidly  furnished  chamber,  not  unlike  the  one  I 
had  entered  with  the  professor. 

I  perceived  that  I  was  at  Hamburgh,  in  the  house  of 
the  Baron  von  S.,  and  that  he  and  a  party  of  gentlemen 
were  seated  around  a  table  on  which  were  drinking  cups, 
each  filled  with  some  hot,  ruby-colored  liquid,  from  which 
a  fragrant,  herb-like  odor  was  exhaled.  Several  crystal 
globes  were  on  the  table,  also  sdme  plates  of  dark,  shining 
surfaces,  together  with  a  number  of  open  books,  some  in 
print,  others  in  MSS.,  and  others  again  whose  pages  were 
covered  with  characters  of  an  antique  form,  and  highly 
illuminated.  As  I  entered,  or  seemed  borne  into  this 
apartment,  a  voice  exclaimed,  "  A  messenger  from  Herr 
von  Marx  is  here,  a  'flying  soul,'  one  who  will  carry  the 
promised  word  to  our  circle  in  B." 

"Question  him,"  responded  another  voice.  ""What 
tidings  or  message  does  he  bring?" 

"He  is  a  new  recruit,  no  adept  in  the  sublime  sci- 


GHOST  LAND.  29 

ences,"  responded  the  first  speaker,  "and  cannot  be 
depended  on." 

"  Let  me  speak  with  him, "  broke  in  a  voice  of  singu- 
larly sweet  tone  and  accent;  and  thereupon  I  became 
able  to  fix  my  perceptive  sense  so  clearly  on  this  last 
speaker  that  I  fully  realized  who  and  what  he  was,  and 
how  situated.  I  observed  that  he  stood  immediately 
beneath  a  large  mirror  suspended  against  the  wall,  and 
set  in  a  circular  frame  covered  with  strange  and  caba- 
listic looking  characters.  A  dark  velvet  curtain  was 
undrawn  and  parted  on  either  side  of  the  mirror,  and  in 
or  on,  I  cannot  tell  which,  its  black  and  highly  polished 
surface,  I  saw  a  miniature  form  of  a  being  robed  in  starry 
garments,  with  a  glittering  crown  on  its  head,  long 
tresses  of  golden  hair,  shining  as  sunbeams,  streaming 
down  its  shoulders,  and  a  face  of  the  most  unparalleled 
loveliness  my  eyes  had  then  or  have  ever  since  beheld. 
I  cannot  tell  whether  this  creature  or  image  was  designed 
to  represent  a  male  or  female.  I  did  not  then  know  and 
may  not  now  say  whether  it  was  an  animate  or  inani- 
mate being.  It  seemed  to  be  living,  and  its  beautiful 
lips  moved  as  if  speaking,  and  its  strangely-gleaming, 
sad  eyes  were  fixed  with  an  expression  of  pity  upon 
me. 

Several  voices,  with  the  tones  of  little  children,  though 
I  saw  none  present,  said,  in  a  clear,  choral  accent,  w  The 
crowned  angel  speaks.  "  Listen!  "  The  lips  of  the  fig- 
ure in  the  mirror  then  seemed  to  move.  A  long  beam 
of  light  extended  from  them  to  the  fine,  noble-looking 
youth  of  about  eighteen  who  stood  beneath  the  mirror, 
and  who  pronounced,  in  the  voice  I  had  last  heard,  these 
words :  — 

"Tell  Felix  von  Marx  he  and  his  companions  are 
searching  in  vain.  They  spend  their  time  in  idle  efforts 


30  GHOST  LAND. 

to  confirm  a  myth,  and  will  only  reap  the  bitter  fruits 
of  disappointment  and  mockery.  The  soul  of  man  is 
compounded  from  the  aromal  life  of  elementary  spirits, 
and,  like  the  founders  and  authors  of  its  being,  only 
sustains  an  individualized  life  so  long  as  the  vehicle 
of  the  soul  holds  together  and  remains  intact.  If  the 
spirits  of  the  elements,  stars,  and  worlds  have  been 
unable  during  countless  ages  to  discover  the  secret  of 
eternal  being,  shall  such  a  mere  vaporous  compound  of 
their  exhaled  essence  as  the  soul  of  man  achieve  the 
aim  denied  to  them?  Go  to,  presumptuous  ones!  Life 
is  a  transitory  condition  of  combinations,  death  a  final 
state  of  dissolution.  Being  is  an  eternal  alternation 
between  these  changes,  and  individuality  is  the  privi- 
lege of  the  soul  once  only  in  eternity.  Look  upon 
my  earthly  companion!  look  well,  and  describe  him,  so 
that  the  employers  who  have  sent  you  shall  know  that 
the  crowned  angel  has  spoken." 

I  looked  as  directed,  and  noticed  that  the  young  man 
who  spoke,  or  seemed  to  speak,  in  rhythmic  harmony 
with  the  image  in  the  mirror,  wore  a  fantastic  masquer- 
ade dress,  different  from  all  the  other  persons  present. 
He  on  his  part  seemed  moved  with  the  desire  that  those 
around  him  should  become  aware  of  my  presence,  as  he 
was.  Then  I  noticed  that  his  eyes  looked  intelligently 
into  mine,  as  if  he  saw  and  recognized  me;  but  the 
gaze  of  all  the  rest  of  the  company  met  mine  as  if  they 
looked  on  vacancy.  They  could  not  see  me. 

"  Flying  soul,"  said  the  youth,  authoritatively  address- 
ing me,  "can  you  not  give  us  the  usual  signal?"  In- 
stantly I  remarked  that  dim,  shadowy  forms,  like  half 
erased  photographic  images,  were  fixed  in  the  air  and 
about  the  apartment,  and  I  saw  that  they  were  forms 
composed  of  the  essence  of  souls  that,  like  mine,  had 


GHOST  LAND.  31 

visited  that  chamber,  and  like  mine  had  left  their  tracery 
behind.  With  the  pictures  thus  presented,  however,  I 
understood  the  nature  of  the  signals  they  had  given, 
and  what  was  now  demanded  of  me.  I  willed  instinct- 
ively a  strong  breath  or  life  essence  to  pass  from  myself 
to  the  young  man,  also  I  noticed  that  his  photosphere 
was  of  the  same  rosy  tint  as  Professor  von  Marx's. 

I  saw  the  blue  vapor  from  my  form  exhale  like  a 
cloud  by  my  will,  commingle  with  his  photosphere,  and 
precipitate  itself  towards  his  finger-ends,  feet,  hair, 
beard,  and  eyelashes. 

He  laid  his  hand  on  a  small  tripod  of  different  kinds 
of  metal  which  stood  near  him,  and,  by  the  direction  of 
my  will,  five  showers  of  the  life  essence  were  discharged 
from  his  fingers,  sounding  like  clear,  distinct  detonations 
through  the  apartment. 

All  present  started,  and  one  voice  remarked,  "The 
messenger  has  been  here ! " 

"And  gone!"  added  the  youth,  when  instantly  I  sunk 
into  blank  unconsciousness. 


CHAPTER.  H. 

"  The  original  of  all  things  is  one  thing.  Creation  is  one  whole.  The 
differences  a  mortal  sees  are  diverse  only  to  the  finite  mind." — FESTUS. 

As  I  recall  the  singular  experiences  which  marked 
my  early  boyhood,  it  seems  but  yesterday  that  I,  now  a 
man  in  the  meridian  of  life,  was  the  lad  of  twelve  sum- 
mers, led  to  my  home  by  the  hand  of  Professor  von 
Marx,  on  the  memorable  night  when  I  first  realized  the 
marvel  of  magnetic  influence  and  somnambulic  lucidity, 
in  the  experiment  detailed  in  the  last  chapter.  As  such 
experiments  were  constantly  repeated,  and  spread  over 
a  period  of  full  six  years,  I  do  not  propose  to  recapitu- 
late them  seriatim,  but  will  endeavor  to  occupy  my 
readers'  time  more  profitably  by  presenting  them  with  a 
summary  of  the  revealments  which  those  six  years  of 
occult  practices  disclosed  to  me. 

On  the  night  of  what  I  may  call  my  initiation  into 
the  society  associated  with  Professor  von  Marx,  that 
gentleman  informed  me,  on  our  way  to  our  lodgings, 
that  the  unconscious  condition  into  which  I  had  fallen 
after  my  spiritual  visit  to  Hamburgh  was  occasioned 
by  the  lack  of  force  necessary  to  sustain  my  system  to 
the  close  of  the  seance. 

He  added  that  as  I  grew  stronger  and  more  accus- 
tomed to  the  magnetic  control,  I  should  be  privileged 
to  retain  a  recollection  of  what  had  transpired;  and 
where  this  power  failed,  as  it  might  do,  my  memory 
should  be  refreshed  by  a  perusal  of  the  memoranda 


GHOST  LAND.  33 

which  he  kept  of  every  seance,  a  storehouse  of  informa- 
tion which  he  intended  to  transcribe  and  correct  in  my 
presence. 

In  fulfilment  of  this  promise,  the  professor  spent 
some  hours  of  every  week  with  me;  and  as  I  was  per- 
mitted to  propound  any  questions  which  arose  in  my 
mind,  and  he  seemed  to  take  a  singular  pleasure  in 
explaining  the  philosophy  connected  with  the  facts  he 
recorded,  I  soon  became  possessed  of  the  opinions 
entertained  by  the  society  with  whom  I  was  unwit- 
tingly associated. 

Professor  von  Marx  was  not  only  a  member  of  that 
society  described  so  graphically  by  Jung  Stilling  in 
vision,  but  he  also  belonged  to  several  others,  all  of 
whom  were  more  or  less  addicted  to  the  practices  of 
animal  and  mineral  magnetism.  The  particular  asso- 
ciation to  which  I  was  first  introduced  constituted  the 
German  branch  of  a  very  ancient  secret  order,  the 
name  and  distinctive  characteristics  of  which  neither  I 
nor  any  other  human  being  is  privileged  to  mention,  or 
even  indicate  more  fully  than  I  shall  do  in  the  following 
statements. 

Many  learned  men,  and  patient  students  into  life's 
profoundest  mysteries,  had  transmitted  from  generation 
to  generation  the  result  of  their  investigations  and  the 
opinions  deduced  from  their  experiments.  This  society, 
which  I  shall  call  for  distinction's  sake  the  "Berlin 
Brotherhood,"  conserving  the  experiences  of  their 
predecessors,  had  evolved  the  following  elements  of 
philosophy:  They  believed  that  every  fragment  of  mat- 
ter in  the  universe  represented  a  corresponding  atom 
of  spiritual  existence ;  that  this  realm  of  spiritual  being 
was  the  essence,  force,  and  real  substance  of  the  mate- 
rial; but  that  both  inevitably  dissolved  together,  both 

3 


34  GHOST  LAND. 

being  resolved  back  into  their  component  parts  in  the 
chemical  change  called  death. 

They  acknowledged  that  the  realm  of  spiritual  being 
was  ordinarily  invisible  to  the  material,  and  only  known 
through  its  effects,  being  the  active  and  controlling 
principle  of  matter;  but  they  had  discovered,  by  re- 
peated experiments,  that  spiritual  forms  could  become 
visible  to  the  material  under  certain  conditions,  the  most 
favorable  of  which  were  somnambulism  procured  through 
the  magnetic  sleep.  This  state,  they  had  found,  could 
be  induced  sometimes  by  drugs,  vapors,  and  aromal 
essences;  sometimes  by  spells,  as  through  music,  in- 
tently staring  into  crystals,  the  eyes  of  snakes,  running 
water,  or  other  glittering  substances;  occasionally  by 
intoxication  caused  by  dancing,  spinning  around,  or 
distracting  clamors;  but  the  best  and  most  efficacious 
method  of  exalting  the  spirit  into  the  superior  world 
and  putting  the  body  to  sleep  was,  as  they  had  proved, 
through  animal  magnetism.  They  taught  that  in  the 
realms  of  spiritual  existence  were  beings  who  composed 
the  fragmentary  and  unorganized  parts  of  humanity,  as 
well  as  beings  of  higher  orders  than  humanity.  Thus, 
as  man  was  composed  of  earthly  substances,  vegetable 
tissues,  mineral,  atmospheric,  and  watery  elements,  so 
all  these  had  realms  of  spiritual  existences,  perfectly 
in  harmony  with  their  peculiar  quality  and  functions. 
Hence,  they  alleged  there  were  earthy  spirits;  spirits 
of  the  flood,  the  fire,  the  air;  spirits  of  various  animals; 
spirits  of  plant  life,  in  all  its  varieties;  spirits  of  the 
atmosphere;  and  planetary  spirits,  without  limit  or 
number.  The  spirits  of  the  planets  and  higher  worlds 
than  earth  took  rank  far  above  any  of  those  that  dwelt 
upon  or  in  its  interior.  These  spirits  were  more  pow- 
erful, wise,  and  far-seeing  than  the  earth  spirits,  whilst 


GHOST  LAND.  35 

their  term  of  existence  was  also  more  extended  in  pohlt 
of  time ;  but  to  no  spirit  did  the  Brotherhood  attribute 
the  privilege  of  immortality,  and  least  of  all  to  the 
fleeting  and  composite  essence  which  formed  the  vital 
principle  of  man.  Assuming  that,  as  man's  soul  was 
composed  of  all  the  elements  which  were  represented 
in  the  construction  of  his  body,  so  his  spirit  was,  as  a 
whole,  far  superior  to  the  spirits  of  earth,  water,  plants, 
minerals,  etc.,  to  hold  communion  with  them,  however, 
was  deemed  by  the  Brotherhood  legitimate  and  neces- 
sary to  those  who  would  obtain  a  full  understanding 
of  the  special  departments  of  nature  in  which  these 
embryotic  existences  were  to  be  found.  Thus  they  in- 
voked their  presence  by  magical  rites,  and  sought  to 
obtain  control  over  them,  for  the  purpose  of  wresting 
from  them  the  complete  understanding  of  and  power 
over  the  secrets  of  nature.  Whilst  I  found,  by  re- 
peated conversations  with  my  new  associates,  that  every 
one  of  them  emphatically  denied  the  continued  existence 
of  the  soul  after  death,  they  still  believed  that  the  soul's 
essence  became  progressed  by  entering  into  organic 
forms,  and  thus  that  our  essences,  though  not  our  in- 
dividualities, were  taken  up  by  higher  organisms  than 
man's,  and  ultimately  formed  portions  of  that  exalted 
race  of  beings  who  ruled  the  fate  of  nations,  and  from 
time  to  time  communicated  with  the  soul  of  man  as 
planetary  spirits.  They  taught  that  the  elementary,  spir- 
its, like  the  soul  essence  in  man,  were  dissipated  by  the 
action  of  death,  but,  like  that  soul  essence,  became  pro- 
gressed by  existence  in  forms,  and  were  taken  up  by 
higher  organisms,  and  ultimately  helped  to  make  up 
the  spirit  in  man. 

Strange  ,and   even  fantastic  as  the  belief   sketched 
above  may  appear  to  the  sceptic,  materialist,  or  spirit- 


36  GHOST  LAND. 

ualist,  permit  me  to  assure  all  these  differential  classes 
of  thinkers  that  these  views  have  a  far  wider  acceptance 
than  the  bare  facts  of  history  or  biography  would  lead 
mankind  to  believe. 

I  have  conversed  with  leading  minds  of  the  German 
schools  in  many  phases  of  thought,  and  have  found 
them  unable  to  combat  the  facts  I  had  to  show,  and  com- 
pelled them  to  acknowledge  the  plausibility  of  my  the- 
ory as  an  explanation  of  many  of  what  would  otherwise 
remain  insoluble  problems  in  nature.  The  society  to 
which  I  was  introduced  by  Professor  von  Marx  was  not 
the  only  one  which  cherished  these  views.  In  Arabia, 
India,  Asia  Minor,  Hungary,  Bohemia,  Italy,  France, 
Sweden,  and  Great  Britain,  secret  societies  exist  where 
these  beliefs  are  accepted,  and  some  of  the  experiences 
I  am  about  to  relate  occurred  in  the  great  Babylon  of 
materialism,  London,  during  a  visit  which  I  made  with 
Professor  von  Marx  to  England. 

The  professor  was  exceedingly  generous,  and  dis- 
tributed his  abundant  means  with  an  unstinted  hand. 
One  day,  discoursing  with  me  on  the  subject  of  his  lav- 
ish expenditure,  he  remarked,  carelessly,  — 

K  There  is  that-mineral  quality  in  my  organism,  Louis, 
which  attracts  to  me  and  easily  subjects  to  my  control 
the  elementary  spirits  who  rule  in  the  mineral  kingdoms. 
Have  I  not  informed  you  how  invariably  I  can  tell  the 
quality  of  mines,  however  distant?  how  often  I  have 
stumbled,  as  if  by  accident,  upon  buried  treasures?  and 
how  constantly  my  investments  and  speculations  have 
resulted  in  financial  successes?  Louis,  I  attract  money, 
because  I  attract  mineral  elements  and  the  spirits  who 
rule  in  that  realm  of  nature. 

"  I  neither  seek  for  nor  covet  wealth.  I  love  precious 
stones  for  their  beauty  and  magnetic  virtues,  but  money, 


GHOST  LAND.  37 

as  a  mere  possession,  I  despise.  Were  I  as  mercenary 
in  my  disposition  as  I  am  powerful  in  the  means  of  gain- 
ing wealth,  I  could  be  richer  than  Croesus,  and  command 
a  longer  purse  than  Fortunatus." 

"  Is  it  not  strange,  my  master,"  I  replied,  w  that  the 
specialty  of  your  physical  nature  —  namely,  the  power 
of  attracting  riches,  as  you  allege  —  should  not  find  a 
corresponding  desire  in  your  soul?" 

"Not  at  all,  my  Louis;  on  the  contrary,  Nature  is 
purely  harmonious,  and  ever  tends  to  equilibrium  in  all 
her  strivings.  Have  you  not  remarked  how  often  the 
possession  of  a  special  gift  is  accompanied  by  an  indif- 
ference to  its  possession? 

"  Good  singers,  great  musicians,  and  even  poets, 
painters,  and  sculptors,  rarely  estimate  their  gifts  as 
highly  as  the  world  that  enjoys  them.  They  are  ever 
dissatisfied  with  themselves,  and  unless  the  world  praises, 
applauds,  and  recompenses  them,  they  find  but  little  or 
no  interior  reward  from  the  mere  exercise  of  their  fac- 
ulty. And  thus  it  is  with  all  Nature's  gifts.  Abun- 
dance of  strength  in  the  physical  departments  of  our 
being  rarely  accompanies  unusual  vigor  of  thought  or 
profundity  of  intellect;  muscle  and  brain  seldom  hold 
companionship;  and  so  the  magnetic  attractions  which 
draw  unto  my  physique  the  metallic  treasures  of  the 
earth  fail  to  find  any  response  in  the  magnetic  attrac- 
tions of  my  spirit,  whereas,  were  I  so  constituted  as  to 
lack  the  force  which  attracts  the  service  of  the  spirits  of 
the  metals,  my  soul  would  feel  and  yearn  for  a  supply  to 
the  deficiency  in  a  constant  aspiration  for  money  and 
treasure." 

And  that  is  why  (as  I  then  believed)  Professor  von 
Marx  was  rich,  but  did  not  care  for  or  value  his  wealth, 
whilst  so  many  millions,  who  do  not  possess  in  their 


38  GHOST  LAND. 

organisms  that  peculiar  mineral  quality  which,  as  the 
Brotherhood  taught,  was  necessary  to  attract  wealth, 
pine  for  its  possession,  yet  spend  their  lives  vainly  in 
its  pursuit. 

It  becomes  necessary,  for  the  benefit  of  any  students 
of  psychological  mysteries  who  may  peruse  these  pages, 
that  I  should  here  state,  as  briefly  as  possible,  the  spe- 
cialties in  my  association  with  the  "Berlin  Brother- 
hood" which  attracted  them  to  me. 

They  believed  (and  with  good  reason)  that  the  spir- 
itual essence  in  man  called  soul  is  susceptible  of  acting 
a  part  independent,  to  some  extent,  of  the  body;  that 
when  the  body  is  entranced,  or  subsides  into  perfect 
rest  beneath  the  action  of  the  mesmeric  sleep,  the 
spirit,  becoming  liberated  from  its  control,  acquires 
highly  exalted  functions,  amongst  which  are  the  powers 
of  traversing  space,  and  beholding  objects  through  the 
lucidity  of  spiritual  light.  Professor  von  Marx  had 
detected,  through  certain  signs  familiar  to  good  mes- 
merists, that  I  was  a  subject  for  magnetic  experiments. 

My  power  as  a  "clairvoyant"  exceeded  what  he  had 
anticipated;  hence  my  services  to  the  Brotherhood  were 
highly  appreciated.  Ever  since  the  practices  of  Mesmer 
had  become  familiar  to  them,  they  had  delighted  in  pur- 
suing them  in  support  of  their  favorite  theory,  which 
was  that  the  soul  essence  of  man  could  appear,  make 
signs,  sounds,  and  disturbances,  in  places  distant  from 
the  body;  that  at  times,  when  these  soul  essences  were 
dissipated  suddenly,  as  in  the  action  of  violent  death, 
they  inhered  to  earthly  things  and  places,  and  for  a 
time  could  maintain  a  sort  of  vague,  shadowy  existence, 
which  at  length  melted  away,  and  became  dissipated 
in  space,  to  be  taken  up  from  the  grand  reservoir  of  spir- 
itual essences  in  other  souls.  Now,  the  brothers  insisted 


GHOST  LAND.  .  39 

that  these  soul  essences,  which .  they  called  the  f?  double 
goer,"  and  more  frequently  the  "atmospheric  spirit,"  by 
its  occasional  appearances,  both  before  and  after  the 
death  of  individuals,  covered  the  whole  ground  of 
spectres,  ghosts,  apparitions,  hauntings,  and  supernat- 
uralism  in  general. 

The  fact  that  the  "atmospheric  spirit"  often  lingered 
roiind  the  earth  after  the  death  of  the  body,  and  could 
be  seen,  heard,  and  felt,  did  not  militate  against  their 
theory  that  immortality  was  a  fiction  and  that  the  soul 
died  with  the  body.  "It  was  merely  the  atmospheric 
spirit;  a  shadowy  remnant  of  the  soul,"  they  said, 
"which  had  ever  been  seen  or  manifested  in  the  realm 
of  ghost  land ;  and  this  was  not  a  permanent,  intelligent 
existence,  but  merely  a  temporary  relic  of  the  broken 
organism,  like  the  perfume  which  lingers  about  the  spot 
where  the  flower  has  been."  By  repeated  and  patient 
experiments  with  their  magnetic  subjects,  they  found 
that  they  could  send  the  "double"  or  "atmospheric 
spirit"  abroad  in  the  somnambulic  sleep,  and  that  it 
could  be  seen,  heard,  and  felt  precisely  like  the  spectres 
that  were  claimed  to  have  been  manifested  in  tales  of 
the  supernatural. 

On  one  occasion,  the  society  having  thrown  me  into  a 
profound  sleep  by  the  aid  of  vital  magnetism,  and  the 
vapors  of  nitrous  oxide  gas,  they  directed  my  "  atmos- 
pheric spirit "  to  proceed,  in  company  with  two  other 
lucid  subjects,  to  a  certain  castle  in  Bohemia,  where 
friends  of  theirs  resided,  and  then  and  there  to  make 
disturbances  by  throwing  stones,  moving  ponderable 
bodies,  shrieking,  groaning,  and  tramping  heavily,  etc. 
etc.  I  here  state  emphatically,  and  upon  the  honor  of 
one  devoted  only  to  the  interests  of  truth,  that  these 
disturbances  were  made,  and  made  by  the  spirits  of 


40  ,  GHOST  LAND. 

myself  and  two  other  yet  living  beings,  a  girl  and  a  boy 
who  were  subjects  of  the  society;  and  though  we,  in 
our  own  individualities,  remembered  nothing  whatever 
of  our  performance,  we  were  shortly  afterwards  shown 
a  long  and  startling  newspaper  account  of  the  haunt- 
ings  in  the  castle  of  Baron  von  L ,  of  which  we 

were  the  authors. 

In  a  work  devoted  to  the  relation  of  occult  narra- 
tives I  have  in  my  library  at  this  moment  an  account 
of  the  "manifestations,"  as  they  were  termed,  which 
occurred,  on  three  several  occasions,  at  a  certain  castle 
in  Bohemia. .  The  writer  attributes  these  disturbances 
to  disembodied  spirits,  but  in  the  particular  case  in 
question,  I  insist  that  the  atmospheric  spirits  of  the 
Berlin  Brotherhood  were  the  authors  of  the  facts 
recorded.  As  the  experiments  of  these  grave  gentle- 
men were  neither  pursued  in  fun  or  mischief,  but  solely 
with  a  view  to  evolve  the  rationale  of  a  psychological 
science,  I  must  confess  that  they  followed  out  their 
experiments  without  remorse  or  consideration  for  the 
feelings  of  others;  and  as  we  were  all  bound  by  the 
most  solemn  oaths  of  secrecy,  there  was  little  or  no 
chance  that  a  solution  to  any  of  the  mysteries  that 
originated  in  our  circle  could  escape  from  its  charmed 
precincts.  I  am  now  writing  at  a  period  of  nearly  half 
a  century  after  the  following  occurrences;  there  will 
be  no  impropriety,  therefore,  in  my  recalling  to  any 
individual  who  may  chance  to  retain  a  recollection 
of  the  event,  the  scandal  that  prevailed  about  fifty 
years  ago  in  a  town  in  Russia,  concerning  a  nobleman 
much  given  to  the  study  of  occult  arts,  who  was 
alleged  to  have  put  to  death  a  young  country  girl 
whom  he  had  subjected  for  some  months  to  his  magical 
experiments,  and  that  for  the  purpose  of  proving 


GHOST  LAND.  41 

whether  her  atmospheric  spirit,  violently  thrust  out  of 
the  body  in  the  vigor  of  vitality,  could  not  continue 
hovering  around  the  scene  of  death,  and  make  manifes- 
tations palpable  to  the  sense  of  sight  and  sound.  The 
popular  rumor  concerning  this  barbarous  sacrifice  was 
that  the  nobleman  in  question  had  seduced  the  unhappy 
peasant  girl,  and,  after  having  perilled  her  immortal  soul 
by  his  magical  arts,  he  had  ruthlessly  destroyed  her 
body  for  fear  she  should  betray  him. 

Certain  it  was  that  the  gentleman  in  question  was 
charged  with  murder,  tried  and  acquitted,  just  as  it  was 
supposed  any  other  powerful  nobleman  in  his  place 
would  have  been.  The  results,  however,  were  that 
strange  and  horrible  disturbances  took  place  in  his 
castle.  The  affrighted  domestics  alleged  that  the  spirit 
of  the  victim  held  possession  of  her  destroyer's  dwell- 
ing, and  night  after  night  her  wild  shrieks  and  blood- 
stained form,  flying  through  gallery  and  corridor, 
"made  night  hideous,"  and  startled  the  surrounding 
peasantry  from  slumber.  Rumor  added  that  the  ghost, 
spectre,  or  "  atmospheric  spirit,"  whatever  it  might  be, 
was  not  laid  for  years,  and  that  the  adept  who  had 
resorted  to  such  terrible  methods  of  gratifying  his  insa- 
tiate thirst  for  occult  knowledge  paid  a  tremendous 
penalty  for  what  he  had  sought.  Tortured  with  the 
horrible  phantom  he  had  evoked,  his  mind  succumbed, 
and  became  a  mere  wreck.  At  the  time  w^hen  I  com- 
menced my  experiences  with  the  Brotherhood,  this  man, 
who  had  once  been  an  honored  member  of  their  society, 
was  confined  as  a  hopeless  lunatic,  whilst  his  castle  and 
estates  were  abandoned  by  his  heir  to  the  possession  of 
the  dread  haunter  and  the  destructive  spirit  of  neglect 
and  dilapidation. 

It  was  by  the  command  of  my  associates  that  I  one 


42  GHOST  LAND. 

night  visited,  in  the  magnetic  sleep,  the  cell  of  the 
lunatic;  and  being  charged  by  the  power  of  the 
Brothers  with  their  combined  magnetic  force,  I  threw 
it  on  the  maniac,  and  by  this  means,  whilst  his  suf- 
fering body  slumbered  tranquilly,  I  returned  to  our 
"sanctuary"  with  his  spirit;  and  from  the  records  of 
that  night's  proceedings,  I  extract  the  following  minutes 
of  what  transpired.  He  whose  office  I  am  not  per- 
mitted by  my  lionor  to  name,  I  shall  call  "  Grand 
Master,"  and  he  thus  questioned  what  was  always 
called  on  these  occasions  the  "flying  soul"  of  the 
maniac:  — 

Grand  Master.  Did  you  kill  the  body  of  A.  M.? 
Answer  truly. 

Flying  Soul.     I  did. 

Gr.  M.     For  what  purpose,  and  how? 

F.  S.  To  ascertain  if  the  atmospheric  spirit,  being 
fall  of  life,  could  remain  with  me.  I  killed  her  by  a 
sudden  blow,  so  as  to  let  all  the  life  out  at  once,  and  I 
drew  out  the  spirit  from  the  dead  form  by  mesmeric 
passes. 

6r.  M.    Did  you  see  that  spirit  pass? 

F.  S.    I  did. 

G.  M.    How  did  it  look? 

F.  S.     Exactly  like  the  body,  only  it  wore  an  aspect 
of  horror  and  appeal  terrible  to  behold. 

G.  M.     Did  the  spirit  stay  with  you,  and  how  long? 
Did  it  obey  you,  and  act  intelligently,  or  did  it  act  a 
merely  automatic  part? 

F.  S.  Mortals,  know  that  there  is  no  death!  I  did 
not  kill  A.  M.  I  only  broke  up  the  temple  in  which  her 
soul  dwelt.  THAT  SOUL  is  IMMORTAL,  A^D  CAN  NOT 
DIE.  I  found  this  out  the  moment  after  it  had  left  the 
body,  for  it  looked  upon  me,  spoke  to  me,  and  re- 


GHOST  LAND.  43 

preached  me.  O  God  of  heaven,  saints  and  angels, 
pity  me !  It  spoke  to  me  as  intelligently,  but  far,  far 
more  potentially  than  ever  it  had  done  in  earthly  being. 
It  was  not  dead.  It  could  not  die;  it  never  will  die, 
and  so  it  told  me  at  once ;  but  ah  me,  miserable !  whgn 
I  sank  down  aghast  and  struck  with  ineffable  horror, 
as  the  spirit  approached  me,  into  a  deep  swoon,  I  en- 
tered the  land  of  immortal  souls.  There  I  saw  many 
people  whom  I  had  thought  dead,  but  who  were  all 
still  living.  There,  too,  I  saw  the  still  living  and  radi- 
antly glorious  soul  of  my  old  pastor,  Michael  H . 

Sternly  but  sorrowfully  he  told  me  I  had  committed  a 
great  and  irreparable  crime ;  that  all  crime  was  unpar- 
donable, and  could  only  be  wiped  out  by  personal,  and 
not  by  vicarious  atonement,  as  he  had  falsely  taught 
whilst  on  earth ;  that  my  only  means  of  atonement  was 
suffering,  and  that  in  kind,  or  in  connection  with  my 
dreadful  crime;  that,  as  the  poor  victim  would  be  en- 
gaged during  the  term  of  her  earthly  life  (broken  short 
by  my  act)  in  working  it  out  in  an  earthly  sphere,  so 
her  magnetism,  actually  attracted,  as  I  had  deemed,  to 
the  spot  where  her  life  had  been  taken,  would  continue 
to  haunt  me,  and  repeat  in  vision  the  last  dread  act  of 
murder  until  her  life  essence  should  melt  away,  and  her 
spirit  become  free  to  quit  the  eartji,  and  progress,  as 
she  would  do,  to  higher  spheres.  Sometimes  this 
stern  teacher  informed  me  I  should  see  the  real  living 
soul  of  my  victim,  and  then  it  would  be  as  a  pitying 
angel  striving  to  help  me;  but  still  oftener  I  should  see 
only  the  w  spectre,"  and  this  would  always  appear  as  in 
the  death-moment,  an  avenging  form,  partly  conjured 
up  from  my  own  memory,  and  partly  from  the  magnetic 
aura  of  my  victim,  and  always  taking  the  shape  and 
circumstances  of  my  dreadful  crime.  Mortals,  there  is 


44  GHOST  LAND. 

much  more  to  tell  you  of  the  awful  realms  beyond  the 
grave,  and  the  solemn  connection  between  life  and 
death,  but  more  I  dare  not  speak.  Human  beings  will 
soon  learn  it  for  themselves ;  for  the  souls  of  the  immor- 
tals are  preparing  to  bridge  over  the  gulf  of  death,  and 
men  and  spirits  will  yet  cross  and  recross  it.  Meantime 
ye  are  the  blind  leading  the  blind;  deceiving  yourselves 
with  a  vain  philosophy,  and  deceiving  all  to  whom  ye 
teach  it.  THERE  is  NO  DEATH  !  I  must  be  gone.  Hark, 
I  am  called! 

The  minutes  which  follow,  on  this  strange  revelation 
of  the  maniac's  "flying  soul,"  add:  — 

"It  would  seem  that  the  body  was  disturbed  in  its 
somnambulism,  and  the  soul  recalled;  but  we  could 
have  gained  nothing  by  prolonging  this  interview,  for 
evidently  that  soul  had  returned  in  its  lucid  intervals 
to  the  ancient  and  false  philosophy  in  which  it  had  in 
childhood  been  instructed,  namely,  the  mythical  belief 
in  its  immortality. 

"The  spirits  of  lunatics  can  be  evoked,  and  always 
speak  and  think  rationally  when  freed  from  the  dis- 
ordered body;  but  we  note  that  they  most  commonly 
go  back  to  the  rudimental  periods  of  their  existence, 
and  generally  insist  on  the  popular  myth  of  immortality. 

"Perhaps  they  ^re  en  rapport  with  the  prevailing 
opinions  of  men,  and  are  thus  psychologized  into  re- 
peating accepted  ideas.  There  is  nothing,  however,  to 
be  gained  from  this  experiment." 


CHAPTEE  HI. 

COSTSTAKCE. 

TN  the  college  buildings  occupied  by  the  professors 
and  employees  attached  to  the  university  of  which  I 
became  a  student,  resided  a  mathematical  teacher,  whom 
I  shall  designate  Professor  Miiller.  This  gentleman 
held  a  distinguished  place  in  the  ranks  of  science,  and 
was  also  one  of  the  secret  society  associated  with 
myself  and  Professor  von  Marx.  He  was  a  sullen, 
cold,  ungenial  man,  and  though  esteemed  for  his  sci- 
entific attainments,  and  regarded  by  our  society  as  a 
powerful  mesmeric  operator,  he  was  generally  disliked, 
and  was  particularly  repulsive  to  the  "sensitives"  whom 
he  occasionally  magnetized.  Professor  von  Marx  had 
always  carefully  isolated  me  from  every  magnetic  influ- 
ence but  his  own,  and  though  I  was  consequently  never 
required  to  submit  to  the  control  of  Herr  Miiller,  his 
very  presence  was  so  antipathetic  to  me  that  it  was 
remarked  my  highest  conditions  of  lucidity  could  never 
be  evolved  when  he  was  by.  He  did  not  often  attend 
the  seances,  however,  in  which  I  was  engaged,  although 
he  belonged  to  our  group,  as  well  as  others  to  which  I 
wafe  not  admitted.  Professor  Mailer's  chief  interest  in 
my  eyes  was  his  relationship  to  a  charming  young  lady, 
some  years  older  than  myself,  but  one  for  whom  I  cher- 
ished a  sentiment  which  I  can  now  only  liken  to  the 
adoration  of  an  humble  votary  for  his  saint;  and  truly 


46  GHOST  LAND. 

Constance  Miiller  was  worthy  to  be  enshrined  in  any 
heart  as  its  presiding  angel. 

She  was  beautiful,  fair,  and  fragile-looking  as  a  water- 
lily;  gentle,  timid,  and  shrinking  as  a  fawn;  and  though 
residing  with  her  stern,  unloving  uncle  in  the  college 
buildings,  and  fulfilling  for  him  the  duties  of  a  house- 
keeper, few  of  the  other  residents  ever  saw  her  except 
in  transitory,  passing  glances,  and  none  of  the  members 
of  the  university,  save  one,  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
any  direct  personal  intercourse  with  her.  That  solitary 
and  highly-favored  individual  was  myself. 

I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  lovely  lady  on 
several  occasions,  when  I  had  been  sent  from  my  friend, 
Heir  von  Marx,  on  messages  to  her  uncle ;  and  deeming, 
I  presume,  that  my  boyish  years  would  shield  our  inter- 
course from  all  possibility  of  scandal  or  remark,  the 
lonely  fairy  had  deigned  to  bestow  on  me  some  slight 
attention,  which  finally  ripened  into  a  friendship  equally 
sincere  and  delightful. 

Constance  Miiller  was  an  orphan,  poor,  and  dependent 
on  her  only  relative,  Herr  Miiller.  Young  as  I  was,  I 
could  perceive  the  injustice,  no  less  than  the  impropriety, 
of  a  young  lady  so  delicately  nurtured  and  possessed  of 
fine  sensitive  instincts,  being  brought  into  such  a  scene, 
and  subjected  to  such  a  life  as  she  led  in  the  university. 
She  made  no  complaint,  however,  simply  informing  me 
that  by  the  death  of  her  father,  a  poor  teacher  of  lan- 
guages, she  had  become  solely  dependent  upon  her 
uncle,  and  though  she  hoped  eventually  to  induce  him 
to  aid  her  in  establishing  herself  as  a  teacher  of  music, 
she  was  too  thankful  for  his  temporary  protection  to 
urge  her  choice  of  another  life  upon  him,  until  she  found 
him  willing  to  promote  her  wishes.  As  for  me,  I  lis- 
tened to  her  remarks  on  this  head  with  strange  misgiv- 


GHOST  LAND.  47 

ings.  My  own  secret  convictions  were  that  the  stern 
student  of  the  occult  had  brought  this  beautiful  young 
creature  to  the  college  with  ulterior  motives,  in  which 
his  devotion  to  magical  studies  formed  the  leading  idea. 
I  may  as  well  record  here  'as  at  any  other  point  of  my 
narrative  that,  although  I  was  deeply  interested,  nay, 
actually  infatuated  with  the  pursuits  in  which  my  clair- 
voyant susceptibilities  had  inducted  me,  I  was  never, 
from  their  very  first  commencement,  satisfied  that  they 
were  legitimate  or  healthful  to  the  minds  that  were 
engaged  in  them.  I  felt  the  most  implicit  faith  in  the 
integrity  and  wisdom  of  Professor  von  Marx,  as  well  as 
entire  confidence  in  his  affection  for  and  paternal  care 
of  me ;  but  here  my  confidence  in  any  of  my  associates 
ended. 

Somehow  they  all  seemed  to  me  to  be  men  without 
souls.  They  were  desperate,  determined  seekers  into 
realms  of  being  with  which  earth  had  no  sympathy,  and 
which  in  consequence  abstracted  them  from  all  human 
feelings  or  human  emotions. 

Not  one  of  them,  that  I  can  remember,  ever  manifested 
any  genial  qualities  or  seemed  to  delight  in  social  exer- 
cises. They  were  profound,  philosophic,  isolated  men, 
pursuing  from  mere  necessity,  or  as  a  cloak  to  the  stu- 
pendous secrets  of  their  existence,  some  scientific  occu- 
pation, yet  in  their  innermost  natures  lost  to  earth  and 
its  sweet  humanities ;  living  amongst  men,  but  partaking 
neither  of  their  vices  nor  their  virtues. 

In  their  companionship  I  felt  abandoned  of  my  kind. 
Bound,  chained,  like  a  Prometheus,  to  the  realms  of  the 
mysterious  existences  whom  these  men  had  subdued  to 
their  service,  I  often  fancied  myself  a  doomed  soul,  shut 
out  forever  from  the  tender  and  trustful  associations  of 
mortality,  and  swallowed  up  in  an  ocean  of  awe  and  my s- 


48  GHOST  LAND. 

ticism,  from  which  there  was  none  to  save,  none  to  help 
me. 

If  the  knowledge  I  had  purchased  was  indeed  a  reality, 
there  were  times  when  I  deemed  it  was  neither  good  nor 
lawful  for  man  to  possess  it.  I  often  envied  the  peace- 
ful unconsciousness  of  the  outer  world,  and  would  gladly 
have  gone  back  to  the  simple  faith  of  my  childhood,  and 
then  have  closed  my  eyes  in  eternal  sleep  sooner  than 
awaken  to  the  terrible  unrest  which  had  possessed  me 
since  I  had  crossed  the  safe  boundaries  of  the  visible, 
and  entered  upon  the  illimitable  wastes  of  the  invisible. 

And  now,  methought,  Constance,  the  fair,  gentle,  and 
loving-hearted  orphan,  Constance,  who  so  yearned  for 
affection  that  she  was  content  in  her  isolation  to  cling 
even  to  a  young  boy  like  me,  was  to  become  their 
victim;  be  inducted  into  the  cold,  unearthly  realms  of 
half-formed  spiritual  existences;  lose  all  her  precious 
womanly  attributes,  and  with  fixed,  wild  glances  pier- 
cing the  invisible,  stare  away  from  the  faces  of  her  fel- 
low-mortals to  the  grotesque  lineaments  of  goblins,  the 
forms  of  sylphs,  and  the  horrible  rudiments  of  imperfect 
being  that  fill  the  realms  of  space,  mercifully  hidden 
from  the  eyes  of  ordinary  mortals.  Constance,  I  knew, 
longed  for  this  knowledge,  and  whether  prompted  by 
the  suggestions  of  her  remorseless  relative,  or  fired 
with  the  sphere  of  influence  which  he  projected  from  his 
resolved  mind,  I  could  not  .tell;  certain  it  was  that  she 
had  obtained  some  clew  to  the  pursuits  in  which  I  was 
engaged,  and  was  perpetually  plying  me  with  questions 
and  attempts  to  elicit  information  concerning  them. 

To  this,  though  I  felt  as  if  I  were  betraying  the  inter- 
ests of  my  beloved  master,  I  invariably  returned  answers 
clothed  in  discouraging  words  and  hints  of  warning.  All 
would  not  avail.  On  a  certain  evening  when  I  was  my- 


GHOST  LAND.  49 

\ 

self  off  duty,  but  when  a  special  meeting  to  which  I  did 
not  belong  was  held  by  the  brothers,  I  saw  Professor 
Miiller  cross  the  college  grounds,  supporting  on  his  arm 
the  closely- veiled  and  ethereal  form  of  Constance.  I 
saw  them  enter  a  coach  which  was  waiting  for  them  at 
the  gate,  and  running  hastily  in  their  track,  I  heard  the 
professor  direct  the  driver  to  set  them  down  in  that 
remote  quarter  of  the  town  where  the  meetings  of  the 
Brotherhood  were  held.  "  Gone  to  the  sacrifice ! "  I  men- 
tally exclaimed.  "  Constance,  thou  art  doomed !  sold  to 
a  world  of  demons  here  and  hereafter,  —  if  indeed  there 
is  a  hereafter."  Two  evenings  after  this,  as  I  was  taking 
my  solitary  walk  in  the  college  grounds,  a  quick  step 
pursued  me;  a  hand  was  laid  lightly  on  my  shoulder, 
and  looking  up  I  beheld  Constance  Miiller,  a  transfig- 
ured being.  Her  eyes  gleamed  with  a  strange,  unearthly 
light ;  her  head  seemed  to  be  thrown  upwards  as  if  spurn- 
ing the  earth  and  seeking  kindred  with  the  stars ;  her 
cheek  burned  with  a  deep  hectic  flush,  and  a  singular 
air  of  triumph  sat  on  her  beautiful  lips  as  she  thus' 
accosted  me :  "  Thou  false  page !  how  long  wouldst  thou 
have  kept  the  mistress,  to  whom  thou  hast  sworn  fealty, 
imprisoned  in  the  darkness  of  earthly  captivity,  when 
realms  of  light  and  glory  and  wonder  were  waiting  for 
her  to  enter  in  and  possess?" 

"  O  Constance !  where  have  you  been?  " 
*  Where  I  shall  some  day  meet  you,  my  young  pala- 
din,— in  the  land  of  light,  for  an  entrance  to  which  my 
soul  has  yearned  ever  since  I  could  look  up  from  the 
chill  world  of  materialism,  and  feel  that  it  must  be 
vitalized  and  fired  by  a  world  of  spiritualism.  Yes, 
Louis,  I  know  now  the  secrets  of  your  nightly  wander- 
ings, —  and  I  too  can  traverse  space.  I  too  can  com- 
mune with  the  soul  of  things,  and  in  enfranchised 

4 


50  GHOST  LAND. 

liberty  the   inner    self   of    Constance    can    roam    the 
spheres  of  infinity  and  pierce  the  secrets  of  eternity." 

"Alas!"  I  murmured,  and  then,  unable  to  explain 
even  to  myself  the  unspeakable  grief  that  filled  my 
heart,  I  hung  my  head,  and  walked  on  silently  by  the 
side  of  the  poor  enthusiast. 

For  several  weeks  Constance  Miiller  lived  in  the 
ecstacy  of  a  pioneer  who  has  discovered  a  new  world, 
and  deems  himself  its  sovereign.  I  never  could  convey 
to  her,  in  language,  my  own  deep  sense  of  man's  inapti- 
tude to  commune  with  worlds  of  being  at  once  foreign 
and  repulsive  to  his  mortality ;  but  she  saw,  and  in  her 
wonderfully  sympathetic  nature  appreciated  the  emo- 
tions I  could  not  shape  into  words.  In  the  glory  of 
triumphant  power  over  and  through  the  invisible,  how- 
ever, the  neophyte  could  not  share  the  thoughts  which 
some  years  of  experience  had  forced  upon  me  as  convic- 
tions ;  but,  ah  me ! .  why  should  I  have  wished  to  hasten 
the  eclair cissement?  It  came  soon  enough,  or  rather, 
too  soon,  too  soon!  I  was  never  present  at  the  seances 
in  which  Constance  took  part,  nor  were  any  of  the  other 
r  lucid  subjects  "  known  to  me,  hence  I  never  knew 
what  transpired.  The  Brothers  had  many  phases  of 
spiritual  communion  among  them,  and  though,  thanks 
to  the  indulgent  care  of  my  teacher,  I  learned  more 
than  any  of  the  other  "  sensitives  "  were  permitted  to 
know  during  their  terms  of  initiation,  I  was  aware  that 
there  were  vast  theatres  of  transcendental  knowledge 
to  be  traversed,  into  which  few  if  any  mortals  had  been 
as  yet  fully  inducted. 

To  every  seance  a  formulae  was  attached  in  the  shape 
of  oaths  of  secrecy,  so  tremendous  that  those  who  were 
sincere  in  their  belief  were  never  known  to  break  them. 
That  any  part  of  the  weird  services  conducted  in 


GHOST  LAND.  51 

these  meetings  should  be  subsequently  revealed  to  the 
world  is  the  best  proof  that  the  neophytes  haye  ceased 
to  be  sincere  or  to  regard  their  vows  of  silence  as  bind- 
ing. At  the  time  of  which  I  write,  I  was  deeply  in 
earnest,  and  regarded  the  knowledge  I  had  acquired  as 
the  most  sacred  that  could  be  communicated;  hence  I 
never  questioned  Constance  concerning  her  experiences, 
although  I  too  well  divined  their  nature. 

As  months  glided  on,  I  found  most  certainly  that  the 
spirit  of  this  poor  victim  had  been  trained  to  become  a 
"flying  soul,"  and  was,  at  most  of  the  seances  she 
attended,  liberated  for  some  purposes  which  I  could 
only  guess  at. 

Whatever  these  were,  they  soon  began  to  affect  her 
health  and  spirits.  She  pined  away  like  a  flower 
deprived  of  light  and  air.  Frailer  and  more  ethereal 
grew  that  slight,  sylph-like  form;  more  wan  and  hollow 
waxed  the  once  tinted  cheek  and  lips  day  by  day. 

Her  large,  blue  eyes  became  sunken  and  hollow,  and 
her  curling  locks  of  pale  gold  seemed  like  a  coronet  of 
sunbeams,  already  entwined  to  circle  the  brow  of  an 
eternal  sleeper.  At  every  seance  she  attended,  her 
spirit,  attenuating  like  a  thread  of  long-drawn  light, 
invariably  floated  away,  as  its  first  and  most  powerful 
attraction,  to  whatever  place  I  happened  to  be  in :  some- 
times poring  over  my  books  in  my  quiet  little  chamber; 
sometimes  dreamily  watching  the  ripples  of  the  dancing 
fountain  which  played  in  the  college  square ;  not  unfre- 
quently  wandering  in  the  arcades  of  the  thick  woods 
that  skirted  the  town;  and  at  times  stretched  on  the 
grass,  watching,  but  never  entering  into,  the  merry 
sports  of  the  youths  of  my  own  age,  with  whom,  as 
companions,  I  had  lost  all  sympathy.  At  home  or 
abroad,  alone  or  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd,  wherever  I 


52  GHOST  LAND. 

chanced  to  be,  when  the  enfranchised  soul  of  the  beau- 
tiful Constance  broke  its  prison  bonds  and  went  free, 
save  for  the  magnetic  spell  of  her  operators,  it  invari- 
ably sought  me  out,  and  like  a  wreath  of  pale,  sunlit 
mist,  floated  some  two  feet  above  the  ground  in  bodily 
form  and  presentment  before  me.  Accustomed  to  the 
phenomenon  of  the  "  double  goer,"  this  phantom  neither 
surprised  nor  disturbed  me.  My  spiritual  experiences 
enabled  me  to  perceive  that  during  the  few  moments 
that  the  spirit  of  the  "sensitive"  was  passing  into  the 
magnetic  sleep,  and  before  her  magnetizers  had  yet  full 
control  of  her,  the  instinctive  attractions  of  her  nature 
drew  her  to  the  boy  whom  she  had  already  discovered 
to  be  her  worshipper,  the  only  being,  perhaps,  to  whom 
she  was  drawn  by  the  ties  of  affection,  with  which  her 
loving  nature  was  replete.  All  this  I  knew,  and  should 
have  rejoiced  in  had  not  the  phantom  of  the  victim  pre- 
sented unmistakable  tokens  of  being  a  sacrifice,  and 
that  an  unpitied  one,  to  the  dark  magians  with  whom 
she  was  so  fatally  associated. 

In  the  vision  of  the  "flying  soul"  of  Constance,  there 
was  no  speculation  in  the  fixidity  of  the  lustrous  eyes; 
the  form  reposed  as  if  on  air,  and  the  long,  sunny  curls 
would  almost  sweep  the  ground  at  my  feet;  but  the 
look  of  hopeless  sorrow  and  blank  despair,  which  had 
grown  to  be  a  permanent  expression  on  her  waking 
features,  was  even  more  piteously  depicted  on  the  mag- 
netic shade.  She  did  not  see  me,  touch,  or  know  me, 
but  the  bruised  spirit  fled  unconsciously  to  the  shelter 
of  the  only  presence  that  would,  if  it  could,  have  saved 
her,  and  then  passed  away,  to  do  the  bidding  of  the 
remorseless  men  that  had  possessed  themselves,  as  I 
then  thought,  of  her  helpless  soul. 

One  evening,  when  we  had  been  strolling  out  together, 


GHOST  LAND.  53 

and  had  sat  on  a  lone  hill  side,  watching  the  sinking 
sun  setting  in  gorgeous,  many-colored  glory  over  the 
outstretched  gardens,  meadows,  and  plains  beneath, 
Constance  broke  a  long  silence  by  exclaiming  in  low 
yet  passionate  tones,  "Louis,  you  think  the  men  who 
have  entrapped  us,  both  body  and  soul,  in  their  foul, 
magical  meshes,  are  good  and  pure,  even  if  they  are 
cold  and  ungenial  in  their  devotion  to  their  awful 
studies.  Louis,  you  are  mistaken.  I  bear  witness  to 
you  as  the  last,  and  perhaps  the  only  act  by  which 
I  may  ever  more  serve  you  on  earth,  that  some  of  them 
are  impious,  inhuman,  and,  O  Heaven,  how  monstrously 
impure ! " 

w  Constance,  you  amaze  me !  " 

"  Do  not  interrupt  me,  Louis.  I  am  injured  past  all 
reparation.  You  may  be  snatched  from  the  vortex 
which  pollutes  the  body  and  blasts  the  soul;  but  for 
me,  oh,  would  the  end  were  come !  " 

The  indescribable  tone  of  anguish  in  which  this 
lament  was  uttered  pierced  me  to  the  quick. 

I  threw  myself  at  the  feet  of  the  beautiful  lady,  pro- 
testing I  would  die  to  save  her.  For  her  sake,  to  do 
her  good  or  even  to  pleasure  her,  I  would  crush  the 
whole  nest  of  magicians  as  I  would  so  many  wasps.  I 
would  kill  them,  denounce  them  to  the  authorities, — 
anything,  everything  she  bid  me  do.  All  I  asked  was 
to  be  permitted  to  save  her. 

To  this  wild  rhapsody  the  low  tones  of  the  gentle 
Constance  only  responded  in  stifled  whispers,  entreat- 
ing me  to  be  still,  calm,  patient,  and  to  be  assured  that 
neither  I  nor  any  other  living  creature  could  be  of  the 
slightest  assistance  to  her.  w  I  have  seen  the  end,"  she 
added,  when  she  had  succeeded  in  calming  me,  w  and  I 
know  that,  impatient  as  I  am  for  its  coming,  it  will  not 


54  GHOST  LAND. 

be  long  delayed.  I  shall  enter  into  the  realms  of  light 
and  glory,  for  these  dreadful  men  have  only  abused  my 
helpless  spirit  so  long  as  it  is  imprisoned  in  my  weak 
body  and  its  connecting  forces;  they  have  not  touched 
its  integrity,  nor  can  they  maintain  their  hold  upon  it 
one  instant  after  it  has  severed  the  chain  which  binds 
the  immortal  to  the  mortal.  When  that  is  broken  I 
shall  be  free  and  happy." 

"  Constance !  "  I  cried,  "  is  it  then  given  you  to  know 
what  new  form  you  will  inhabit?  Surely,  one  so  good 
and  true  and  beautiful  can  become  nothing  less  than  a 
radiant  planetary  spirit !  " 

"I  shall  be  the  same  Constance  I  ever  was,"  she 
replied,  solemnly.  "I  am  an  immortal  spirit  now, 
although  bound  in  material  chains  within  this  frail  body, 
and  in  magnetic  chains  still  more  terrible  to  the  power 
of  yon  base,  bad  men." 

w  Constance,  you  dream !  Death  is  the  end  of  indi- 
viduality. Your  spirit  may  be,  must  be,  taken  up  by 
the  bright  realms  of  starry  being,  but  never  as  the  Con- 
stance you  now  are." 

"Forever  and  forever,  Louis,  I  shall  be  ever  the 
same.  I  have  seen  worlds  of  being  those  magians  can 
not  ascend  to,  —  worlds  of  bright,  resurrected  human 
souls  upon  whom  death  has  had  no  power  save  to  dis- 
solve the  earthly  chains  that  held  them  in  tenements  of 
clay.  I  have  seen  the  soul  world  ;  I  have  seen  that  it  is 
imperishable.  Louis,  there  are  in  these  grasses  beneath 
our  feet  spiritual  essences  that  never  die.  In  my 
moments  of  happiest  lucidity,  that  is "  —  and  here  a 
strong  shudder  shook  her  frame  —  "when  I  could 
escape  from  my  tormentors  and  the  world  of  demons 
amongst  whom  they  delight  to  roam,  then,  Louis,  my 
soul  winged  through  space  and  pierced  into  a  brighter 


GHOST  LAND.  55 

interior  than  they  have  ever  realized,  aye,  even  into  the 
real  soul  of  the  universe,  not  the  mere  magnetic 
envelope  which  binds  spirit  and  body  together.  Louis, 
in  the  first  or  inner  recesses  of  nature  is  the  realm  of 
force,  comprising  light,  heat,  magnetism,  life,  nerve, 
aura,  essence,  and  all  the  imponderables  that  make  up 
motion,  for  motion  is  force,  composed  of  many  subdi- 
visible parts.  Here  inhere  those  worlds  of  half-formed, 
embryotic  existences  with  which  our  tormentors  hold 
intercourse.  They  are  the  spiritual  parts  of  matter, 
and  supply  to  matter  the  qualities  of  force;  but  they 
are  all  embryotic,  all  transitory,  and  only  partially  intel- 
ligent existences.  JSTothing  which  is  imperfect  is  per- 
manent, hence  these  imperfect  elementary  spirits  have 
no  real  or  permanent  existence;  they  are  fragments  of 
being,  organs,  but  not  organisms,  and  until  they  are 
combined  into  the  organism  of  manhood,  they  can  out- 
work no  real  individuality,  hence  they  perish  —  die, 
that  we  may  gather  up  their  progressed  atoms,  and 
incarnate  their  separate  organs  as  the  complete  organ- 
ism of  man." 

"  And  man  himself,  Constance?  " 

"Man  as  a  perfected  organism  can  not  die,  Louis. 
The  mould  in  which  he  is  formed  must  perish,  in  order 
that  the  soul  may  go  free.  The  envelope,  or  magnetic 
body  that  binds  body  and  soul  together,  is  formed  of 
force  and  elementary  spirit;  hence  this  stays  for  a  time 
with  the  soul  after  death,  and  enables  it  to  return  to,  or 
linger  around  the  earth  for  providential  purposes  until 
it  has  become  purified  from  sin ;  but  even  this  at  length 
drops  off,  and  then  the  soul  lives  as  pure  spirit,  in  spirit 
realms,  gloriously  bright,  radiantly  happy,  strong,  pow- 
erful, eternal,  infinite.  That  is  heaven;  that  it  is  to 
dwell  with  God;  such  souls  are  his  angels." 


56  GHOST  LAND. 

w  Constance,  you  speak  with  assurance.  How  know 
you  this — not  from  the  Brotherhood?" 

"  The  Brotherhood,  Louis !  Why,  they  are  but  grop- 
ing through  the  thick  darkness  of  the  material  world, 
and  just  penetrating  the  realms  of  force. 

"I  tell  you  those  realms  are  only  peopled  with 
shadows,  ghosts,  phantoms. 

w  The  hand  is  not  the  body,  the  eye  is  not  the  head ; 
neither  are  the  thin,  vapory  essences  that  constitute  the 
separate  organs  of  which  the  world  of  force  is  composed, 
the  soul.  Mark  me,  Louis !  Priests  dream  of  the  exist- 
ence of  soul  worlds,  the  Brotherhood  of  the  beings  in 
the  world  of  force.  The  priests  call  the  elementary 
spirits  of  the  mid-region  mere  creations  of  human  fancy 
and  superstition.  The  Brothers  charge  the  same  hallu- 
cination upon  the  priests.  Both  are  partly  right  and 
partly  wrong,  for  the  actual  experiences  of  the  soul  will 
prove  that  beings  exist  of  both  natures,  and  that  both 
realms  are  verities;  only  the  elementary  spirits  in  the 
realms  of  force  are  like  the  earth,  perishable  and  transi- 
tory, and  the  perfected  spirits  in  the  realm  of  soul  are 
immortal,  and  never  die.  Louis,  I  have  seen  and  con- 
versed with  both,  and  I  know  I  do  not  dream.  Here, 
miserable  that  I  am,  I  am  bound  to  earth;  my  soul  is 
imprisoned  by  the  chains  of  force ;  I  am  compelled  to 
minister  to  the  insatiate  curiosity  of  the  spirits  who 
cannot  ascend  beyond  those  mid-regions,  and  oh!  the 
horror  of  that  bondage  would  have  bereft  my  soul  of 
reason,  had  it  not  been  redeemed  by  foregleams  of  the 
more  holy  and  exalted  destiny  reserved  for  the  soul  in 
the  blest  sphere  of  immortality.  Dear  boy,  ask  me  no 
more,  press  me  no  further.  My  sweet  brother,  dearly, 
fondly  loved  by  Constance !  when  I  am  an  enfranchised 
spirit,  I  will  come  to  thee,  and  prove  my  words  by  the 


GHOST  LAND.  57 

very  presence  of  an  arisen,  immortal  soul.  Remem- 
ber! " 

During  the  months  succeeding  this  memorable  con- 
versation, I  only  encountered  the  "  flying  soul "  of  the 
dying  Constance  once. 

I  understood  that  this  recession  of  her  spirit  was  from 
no  decrease  of  the  experiments,  whatever  they  might  be, 
that  she  suffered,  nor  yet  from  any  cessation  of  her  at- 
traction to  myself,  but  the  bonds  of  earth  were  loosen- 
ing, the  vital  forces  waning,  and  I  knew  that  the  pale 
phantom  was  losing  the  earthly  essence  necessary  to 
become  visible  even  in  the  atmosphere  of  invisible 
forces.  My  beautiful  saint  would  soon  be  taken  from 
me,  my  earthly  idol  would  be  shattered;  and  oh!  were 
it  possible  to  believe  her  words,  and  think  that  she 
could  still  live  in  a  brighter  and  better  state  of  being,  I 
might  have  been  comforted;  but  driven  from  this  anchor 
of  hope  by  the  emphatic  teachings  of  the  Brotherhood 
and  their  spirits,  I  beheld  my  earth  angel  melting  away 
into  blank  annihilation,  with  an  anguish  that  admitted 
of  no  alleviation,  a  pain  at  my  heart  almost  insupport- 
able. 

I  had  been  away  for  some  months  in  England,  pur- 
suing studies  of  which  I  shall  speak  more  presently. 
Professor  von  Marx  had  been  my  companion,  and  we 
had  just  returned,  when  one  night,  as  I  was  about  to 
retire  to  rest,  and  proceeded  to  draw  the  curtain  which 
shaded  my  window,  something  seemed  to  rise  outside 
the  casement,  which  intercepted  the  light  of  the  moon. 
The  house  in  which  I  dwelt  was  on  the  borders  of  a 
beautiful  lake,  and  too  high  above  it  to  allow  of  any 
stray  passenger  climbing  up  to  my  casement.  There 
was  no  boat  on  the  waters,  no  foothold  between  them 
and  the  terrace,  which  was  far  below  my  window.  I  had 


58  GHOST  LAND. 

been  gazing  out  for  some  time  on  the  placid  lake,  illu- 
mined by  the  broad  path  of  light  shed  over  it  by  the  full 
moon,  and  I  knew  that  no  living  creature  was  near  or 
could  gain  access  to  my  apartment;  and  yet  there,  stand- 
ing on  air  against  the  casement,  and  intercepting  the  rays 
that  streamed  on  either  side  of  her  on  the  mosaic  floor 
of  my  chamber,  stood  the  gracious  and  radiant  form  of 
Constance  Miiller.  In  the  flash  of  one  second  of  time  I 
knew  it  was  not  her  atmospheric  spirit  that  stood  there. 

Radiant,  shining,  and  glorious  she  now  appeared,  her 
sweet  eyes  looking  full  of  penetrating  intelligence  into 
mine,  her  sweet  smile  directed  towards  me,  and  a  motion 
of  her  hand  like  the  action  of  a  salute,  indicating  that  the 
apparition  saw  and  recognized  me,  and  was  all  beaming 
with  interest  and  intelligence.  By  a  process  which  was 
not  ordinary  motion,  the  lovely  phantom  seemed  to  glide 
through  the  window  and  appear  suddenly  within  a  few 
feet  of  the  couch,  to  which,  on  her  first  appearance,  I 
had  staggered  back.  Slightly  bending  forward,  as  if  to 
arrest  my  attention,  though  without  the  least  movement 
of  the  lips,  her  voice  reached  my  ear,  saying, w  I  am  free, 
happy,  and  immortal."  Swiftly  as  she  had  appeared,  the 
apparition  vanished,  and  in  its  place  I  beheld  the  vision- 
ary semblance  of  the  old-fashioned  room  in  the  college 
building  occupied  by  Constance  Miiller.  On  a  couch 
which  I  well  knew,  lay  the  form  of  the  once  beautiful 
tenant,  pale,  ghastly,  dead!  The  form  was  partly  cov- 
ered over  with  a  sheet,  but  where  the  white  dressing- 
robe  she  wore  was  open  at  the  throat  I  observed  clearly 
and  distinctly  two  black,  livid  spots,  like  the  marks  of  a 
thumb  and  finger. 

The  face  was  distorted,  the  eyes  staring,  and  I  saw 
she  had  been  murdered. 

Ghastly  as  was  the  scene  I  looked  upon,  a  preternatu- 


GHOST  LAND.  59 

ral  power  of  observation  seemed  to  possess  me,  impelling 
me  to  look  around  the  apartment,  which  I  perceived  was 
stripped  of  many  things  I  had  been  accustomed  to  see 
there.  The  harp  was  gone,  and  so  was  the  desk  and 
books  at  which  I  had  so  frequently  seen  her  seated. 
Looking  with  the  piercing  eye  of  the  spirit  behind  as 
well  as  upon  the  couch  where  the  body  lay,  I  saw  the 
black  ribbon  and  gold  locket  which  Constance  had 
always  worn  round  her  neck  lying  on  the  ground  as  if 
it  had  been  dropped  there. 

If  there  was  any  meaning  in  this  vision,  it  would 
appear  that  this  object  was  the  point  aimed  at,  for  I  had 
no  sooner1  beheld  it  and  the  exact  position  in  which  it 
lay  than  the  whole  phantasmagoria  passed  away,  and 
once  more  the  shining  image  of  a  living  and  celestially 
beautiful  Constance  stood  before  me. 

Again  the  air  seemed  to  syllable  forth  the  words,  r?  I 
am  free,  happy,  and  immortal,"  and  "I  have  kept  my 
promise,"  when  again,  but  this  time  far  more  gradually, 
the  angelic  vision  melted  out,  leaving  the  pattern  of  the 
mosaic  on  the  floor,  gilded  only  by  the  bright  moonbeam, 
and  the  diamond  panes  of  the  casement,  shadowed  only 
by  the  white  jasmine  that  was  trained  over  the  house. 

Moonlight  reigned  supreme,  the  shadow  was  gone ;  but 
ah  me!  it  had  been  the  shadow  of  an  eternity  of  sun- 
beams. Never  did  I  realize  such  a  profound  gloom,  such 
an  insufferably  thick  atmosphere,  such  "  darkness  made 
visible,"  as  the  absence  of  this  radiant  creature  left 
behind.  Whilst  she  stayed  it  seemed  as  if  sorrow,  evil, 
or  suffering  had  never  had  an  existence;  life  and  being 
throughout  was  a  mighty  ecstacy :  and  now  she  had  taken 
all  the  joy  and  sunlight  out  of  the  world,  and  that  —  for- 
ever. 

The  recital  of  the  previous  night's  vision,  every  item 


60  GHOST  LAND. 

of  which  I  faithfully  related  to  Professor  von  Marx  the 
next  morning,  found  in  him  a  grave,  attentive,  but  still 
unmoved  listener. 

He  did  not  seem  to  doubt  but  that  Constance  Miiller 
was  dead.  He  made  no  remarks  upon  the  appearances 
which,  I  passionately  declared,  inferred  that  she  had 
suffered  death  by  violence.  To  all  this  he  simply  said, 
"We  shall  see";  but  when  I  strove  to  convince  him 
that  the  apparition  of  a  soul  after  death,  and  that  with 
all  the  signs  of  life  and  tokens  of  intelligence,  must 
prove  a  continued  existence,  he  seemed  roused  to  his 
usual  tone  of  dogmatic  assertion.  He  repeated  what 
he  had  often  insisted  upon  before, —  namely,  that  the  life 
emanations  called  "soul"  did  often  subsist  for  a  short 
period  after  death,  and  appear  as  an  organic  form,  but 
he  still  maintained  that  was  no  proof  of  immortality, 
since  such  essences  soon  disintegrated,  and  became  as 
scattered  and  inorganic  as  the  body  they  had  once 
inhabited. 

When  I  urged  the  words  I  had  heard  from  the  beau- 
tiful phantom,  he  insisted  they  were  the  reflections  of 
my  own  thoughts,  associated  with  the  appearance  of  one 
who  believed  in  idle  superstitions,  and  to  my  plea  that 
the  dress  of  pure,  glistening  white  in  which  the  figure 
was  arrayed  could  be  no  reflex  of  my  mind,  whilst  the 
buoyant  happiness  that  sparkled  on  her  angelic  face 
bore  little  or  no  resemblance  to  the  sad,  faded  original, 
he  replied  that  as  the  essence  was  pure  and  unalloyed 
by  the  earthy,  so  when  I  beheld  the  essence  actually 
disengaged  from  the  earthy,  I  should  see  it  clothed  in 
an  image  of  its  own  beauty,  light,  and  purity.  I  was 
silenced,  but  not  convinced.  Two  days  later  Professor 
von  Marx  stood  with  me  knocking  at  Herr  Mailer's 
chamber  door.  The  professor  himself  opened  it,  and 


GHOST  LAND.  61 

anticipated  all  we  might  have  to  say  by  informing  us, 
gravely,  that  he  had  been  unfortunate  enough  to  lose 
his  niece  "by  a  sudden  attack  of  putrid  fever,"  which 
had  compelled  her  speedy  interment,  the  ceremony  of 
which  he  had  been  just  attending. 

"I  knew  that  Fraulein  Miiller  was  no  more,"  replied 
my  teacher,  in  a  voice  which,  despite  his  philosophy, 
was  something  moved  and  broken,  "and  I  called  thus 
early,  not  to  condole  with  you,  for  I  know  your  resolved 
stoicism,  but  to  ask  if  you  are  willing  to  let  my  dear 
young  friend  here  make  purchase  of  your  niece's  harp. 
You  know  the  young  people  were  much  attached  to 
each  other,  and  Louis  is  anxious  to  possess  this  sou- 
venir of  his  beloved  friend."  I  could  not  speak;  a 
choking  sensation  was  in  my  throat,  and  I  was  aston- 
ished at  the  cool  invention  by  which  Herr  von  Marx 
was  trying  the  truth  of  my  clairvoyance;  but  I  lis- 
tened breathlessly  for  the  reply. 

"I  had  her  harp,  desk,  books,  and  other  matters  which 
might  have  been  rendered  unsalable  by  the  contagion 
of  the  fever,  removed,"  replied  Herr  von  Miiller,  with 
a  slight  shade  of  confusion  in  his  manner.  "  I  did  not 
want  a  crowd  of  persons  hovering  around  the  sufferer 
in  her  dying  moments,  hence  I  had  the  apartment 
cleared  in  an  early  stage  of  her  disease." 

"Is  there  nothing  my  young  friend  could  procure 
from  this  much  venerated  spot?"  persisted  my  crafty 
ally. 

"I  do  not  well  know,"  replied  the  other,  completely 
thrown  off  his  guard;  "but  if  you  desire  it,  you  can 
step  in  and  inspect  the  apartment." 

Following  the  two  strangely  matched  associates  into 
the  desolate  shrine  from  which  the  saint  had  been 
removed,  I  gazed  around  only  to  see  a  perfect  fac-simile 


62  GHOST  LAND. 

of  the  scene  I  had  beheld  in  vision.  It  was  evident  the 
quick,  furtive  glances  of  Professor  von  Marx  were 
directed  towards  the  same  end  as  my  own.  Suddenly 
he  stopped  before  a  dark  picture  hanging  on  the  wall, 
and  standing  in  a  line  between  me  and  Herr  Miiller, 
directed  his  attention  to  something  which  he  pretended 
to  call  remarkable  in  the  painting,  thus  giving  me  the 
opportunity  to  cross  the  room  hastily,  draw  out  a  couch 
in  the  corner,  and  gather  up  from  behind  it  a  Hack  rib- 
bon and  gold  locket,  which  had  lain  there  apparently 
unnoticed  till  then.  Professor  von  Marx  never  lost 
sight  of  me  for  an  instant,  and  no  sooner  saw  me 
secrete  my  treasure  in  my  bosom  than  he  said  abruptly, 
"Come,  Louis,  I  don't  like  the  atmosphere  of  the  place. 
Herr  Miiller  is  right:  the  contagion  of  death  lingers 
aroihid;  there  is  nothing  left  here  now  that  you  can 
desire  to  have.  Let  us  go." 

As  we  returned  to  our  lodgings  the  professor 
silenced  my  deep  and  angry  murmurs  against  the  man 
we  had  just  left  by  a  variety  of  sophistries  with  which 
he  was  always  familiar.  One  of  these  was  the  total 
indifference  with  which  all  the  Brotherhood  regarded 
the  lives  of  those  who  were  not  of  their  order.  It 
mattered  little,  he  said,  how  poor  Constance's  thread  of 
being  was  finally  cut  short,  since  it  was  evidently  too 
attenuated  to  spin  out  to  any  much  greater  length  than 
it  had  already  attained;  and  finally,  if  I  would  persist,  he 
said,  in  indulging  in  unrestrained  and  pernicious  bursts 
of  passion,  I  should  mar  the  necessary  passivity  and 
equilibrium  so  essential  to  pure  clairvoyance,  and  he 
should  lose  the  best  "  lucid  "  in  the  world. 

Before  we  parted  for  the  night  the  professor  asked 
me  if  I  had  ever  seen  or  heard  of  Zwingler,  the  Bohe- 
mian. 


GHOST  LAND.  63 

"Who  is  he?"  I  asked,  indifferently. 

"  You  have  never  seen  or  heard  of  Zwingler  ?  Then," 
he  rejoined,  w  you  have  something  to  learn,  another  les- 
son to  take,  one,  I  think,  that  will  help  to  dissipate  your 
faith  in  the  myth  of  immortality,  and  throw  some  light 
on  the  question  of  apparitions. 

w  Come  with  me  to-morrow,  Louis,  to  Sophien  Stradt. 
There  I  will  introduce  you  to  Zwingler,  and  in  his  per- 
son to  one  of  the  phenomenal  wonders  of  the  age;  and 
Louis,"  he  added,  after  a  moment's  pause,  as  we  shook 
hands  at  parting,  w  carry  that  ribbon  and  locket  some- 
where about  you  —  poor  Constance's  jewel,  I  mean. 
"We  may  find  a  singular  use  for  it.  Good-night." 


CHAPTEK  IV. 

ZWL^GLEK,    THE   BOHEMIAN. 

To  fulfil  the  promise  which  my  teacher  had  made  me 
of  visiting  Zwingler,  we  mounted  several  flights  of 
stairs  in  an  old  house  in  Sophien  Stradt,  and  at  last 
reached  a  landing  upon  which  many  persons  were  con- 
gregated about  and  around  an  open  door,  through 
which  I  was  led  hy  Professor  von  Marx  into  a  large 
apartment,  shahbily  furnished,  and  half  filled  with 
loungers,  amongst  whom  I  recognized  more  than  one 
official  of  the  constabulary  force  of  the  city. 

Pushing  his  way  through  the  assembled  company  to 
a  sort  of  recess  at  the  far  end  of  the  room,  the  profes- 
sor addressed  himself  to  a  little,  black-eyed,  Oriental- 
looking  individual,  who  was  seated  on  a  table,  dangling 
his  legs,  and  fidgeting  restlessly  about,  whilst  a  grave 
official,  in  the  habit  of  a  notary,  was  taking  down  depo- 
sitions or  making  notes  from  what  the  other  was  saying. 
The  moment  the  little  man  set  eyes  on  the  professor, 
he  sprang  from  the  table,  and  seizing  his  hand  with  a 
sort  of  fawning,  propitiatory  air,  which  seemed  more 
like  the  action  of  deferential  fear  than  real  cordiality, 
he  cried,  "Ah,  my  prince  of  the  powers  of  the  air  ! 
welcome !  ever  welcome  to  Zwingler,  but  more  especi- 
ally at  this  time,  when  a  most  wonderful  phase  of  your 
art,  that  is  to  say,  of  mine,  or  the  devil's  or  some  of 
his  imps',  for  what  I  know,  has  just  been  perpetrated 


GHOST  LAND.  65 

through  my  innocent  instrumentality."  The  little  man 
whilst  speaking  manifested  all  the  feverish  excitement 
of  an  actor  anxious  to  overdo  his  part,  at  the  same  time 
obviously  desirous  to  interest  his  listener,  as  one  of 
whom  he  stood  in  some  awe.  "Without  paving  any 
attention  to  this  speech,  Professor  von  Marx,  turning 
to  me,  said  calmly,  "  Louis,  this  is  Zwingler." 

"Adept!  "  (to  Zwingler)  "  a  pupil  of  miiie>  for  whose 
benefit  I  wish  you  to  recite  some  little  fragments  of  your 
experience;  "  then,  seating  himself  upon  the  table  from 
which  the  Bohemian  had  dismounted,  and  motioning 
me  to  a  stool  by  his  side,  he  proceeded,  addressing 
the  notary,  to  whom  he  had  slightly  nodded,  ':?  Well, 
Herr  Reinhardt,  what  new  discoveries  has  our  lively 
little  sleuth-hound  been  making?" 

"  Oh,  nothing  out  of  the  common  line,  professor," 
replied  the  other,  in  a  grave  official  drawl.  *  We  've 
caught  the  murderer  of  Fran  Ebenstein;  that's  all." 

'That's  all?"  cried  the  Bohemian,  with  a  tone  and 
gesture  of  almost  frantic  excitement.  w  That's  all,  is  it? 
Slave  of  the  dull  earth  and  the  duller  prison  watch  and 
ward !  All  is  it,  to  traverse  nearly  two  hundred  miles 
of  ground,  cross  three  rivers,  plunge  through  marshes, 
scale  mountain  heights,  pierce  the  forest,  sink  through 
the  cavern's  depths,  and  toss  on  the  roaring  rapids  of 
the  terrific  Schwartz  cataract;  and  still  never  to  lose — 
no,  not  for  a  single  moment — the  scent  of  an  invisible 
and  unknown  mortal,  whom  these  eyes  had  never  beheld, 
whom  these  hands  had  never  touched,  and  of  whom  no 
sign,  no  symbol,  no  token  in  the  realms  of  earthly  ex- 
istence could  be  found,  except  by  me,  Zwingler !  " 

As  he  spoke,  he  beat  his  breast,  and  elevated  his 
glittering  black  eye  to  the  heavens  in  an  attitude  of 
half-ecstatic  frenzy. 


66  GHOST  LAND. 

The  notary,  without  the  slightest  change  of  feature, 
continued  to  write,  wholly  unmindful  of  his  rhapsody; 
but  Professor  von  Marx,  fixing  his  deep,  piercing  dark 
eyes  upon  the  Bohemian,  said  in  a  calm,  soothing  tone, 
as  if  he  were  attempting  to  subdue  a  fractious  child, 
*You  are  a  marvellous  being,  indeed,  Zwingler,  and 
that  all  the  world  knows.  Come  now!  there's  a  good 
fellow,  tell -us  all  about  it.  Sit  down — no,  not  there  — 
there,  at  my  feet;  so,  that  will  do.  Now,  relate  the 
whole  story;  we  will  listen  most  patiently  and  admire 
most  fervently,"  he  added,  speaking  aside  to  me  in 
Spanish.  w  Remember,  I  have  not  seen  you  for  two 
months,  and  only  yesterday  heard  that  you  had  returned 
in  triumph  from  your  long  pilgrimage.  When  I  was 
last  here,  the  tidings  had  just  reached  us  that  Frau 
Ebenstein,  the  rich  widow  of  Baden  Baden,  had  been 
foully  murdered,  her  house  sacked  and  plundered,  and 
her  destroyer — " 

w  An  unknown, "  broke  in  the  notary,  as  if  impatient 
to  recite  details  which  were  specially  in  the  line  of 
his  duty,  "  an  unknown,  whether  male  or  female  also 
unknown,  but  supposed  to  be  the  former  on  account  of 
blood-stained  footprints,  marks  of  a  large  thumb  and 
finger  on  neck  of  the  deceased,  and  a  torn  neckerchief, 
evidently  a  man's,  part  of  which  was  clutched  in  the 
fingers  of  said  deceased,  and  part  of  which  was  found 
beneath  the  couch,  saturated  with  gore,  and  rent,  as  if 
hi  a  violent  struggle." 

As  the  speaker  proceeded,  strong  shudderings  seized 
the  frame  of  the  Bohemian,  though  the  hand  of  Profes- 
sor von  Marx,  laid  lightly  on  his  shoulder,  for  a  time 
subdued  the  spasms  and  quelled  them  into  slight  shiv- 
erings ;  but  ^when  the  neckerchief  was  mentioned,  the 
little  creature's  excitement  was  frightful  to  behold.  He 


GHOST  LAND.  67 

writhed  like  an  eel  beneath  the  touch  of  the  professor, 
who  at  last,  raising  his  hand,  said  quietly,  "  Now,  Zwin- 
gler,  proceed.  Tell  the  rest  in  your  own  way." 

'Yes,  yes,  I  will  tell,"  he  cried.  "I  always  do. 
"When  did  I  ever  fail?  Answer  me  that,  prince  of 
the  air;  answer  me!" 

"  Never,  my  king  of  adepts ;  but  go  on." 

'  They  brought  me  that  neckerchief,  then,  mein  Her- 
ren,"  he  continued,  as  if  addressing  a  vast  assembly,  but 
without  looking  at  any  of  the  loungers  in  the  outer  apart- 
ment, who  now  closed  up  about  him;  "and  lo!  as  I 
clutched  it,  I  saw. —  yes,  instantly,  I  saw  a  dark-browed, 
broad-shouldered  Dutch  serving-man, — the  man  of  blood, 
the  man  who  did  the  deed.  I  swear  it !  I  saw  him  do  it. 
I  saw  him  and  the  whole  act;  and  oh,  how  horrible  it 
was !  how  cruel !  how  cowardly !  and  the  poor,  poor  old 
Frau!  I  saw  her  too,  —  saw  her  struggle,  plead,  choke, 
die!  All  this  I  saw,  —  out  of  that  neckerchief,  mein 
Herren!  Instantly,  as  I  touched  it,  it  came  like  a  flash, 
a  flash  of  darkness,  but  full  of  the  scene  I  describe,  and 
full,  too,  of  all  its  horror.  Gott  in  Himmel !  Then  it  went 
as  all  scenes  do  after  the  flash  I  get  of  them  as  I  touch 
the  thing ;  after  that  I  said  '  Give  me  my  shoes ;  I  must 
walk  far.  Put  me  a  cup  to  scoop  up  water  with  in  my 
wallet,  give  me  my  staff,  and  let  me  go.'  I  had  been 
hungry  and  was  about  to  dine,  but  I  hungered  no  more ; 
no,  not  for  seven  long  days  did  I  touch  other  food  than 
the  nuts  and  berries  close  to  the  path  streaked  with  the 
murderer's  life,  and  the  water  of  the  rivers,  streams,  and 
cataract  he  had  crossed ;  but  I  will  tell  you  all.  Listen ! 
As  I  made  to  go,  I  chose  my  path  as  I  always  do,  because 
a  long  black  line  seemed  to  stream  out  from  the  necker- 
chief I  held  in  my  hand,  and  point  ever  on  the  way  I 
should  go.  It  led  me  through  the  city;  it  pointed  me 


68  GHOST  LAND.. 

into  a  low  inn  where  he  had  stopped  to  rest.  I  told  them 
such  a  man  had  been  there.  They  shuddered,  and  said 
to  one  another,  'Zwingler!'  and  then  to  me,  ?  He  has 
been  and  gone.'  I  knew  it;  but  the  way  he  had  taken 
was  still  pointed  by  the  black  line.  I  know  what  you 
were  going  to  say,  professor;  I  see  your  thought.  You 
want  to  know  if  I  see  the  line  I  speak  of  with  my  eyes, 
my  very  eyes,  or  my  soul's  eyes.  I  reply,  f  With  both.' 
My  soul  feels  the  line,  and  it  draws  me  on,  and  seems 
like  a  cord  dragging  at  the  object  I  hold,  and  pulling  me 
in  the  direction  I  must  take  to  arrive  at  the  owner  of 
that  object.  Sometimes  I  seem  to  see  the  line,  and  then 
I  do  not  feel  it  pull,  but  it  never  leaves  one  sense  or  the 
other  —  sight  or  feeling  —  until  I  abandon  the  object  or 
find  the  person  to  whom  it  has  belonged.  Well,  sirs, 
thus  it  led  me  on,  day  and  night,  never  suffering  me  to 
get  out  of  his  track.  It  guided  me  through  several  vil- 
lages and  some  towns,  and  wherever  it  was  the  thickest 
and  most  palpable,  there  he  had  stopped  to  take  rest  or 
refreshment,  and  there  I  said, '  Such  and  such  a  man  has 
been  here ' ;  and  they  answered  with  a  shudder,  *  Zwin- 
gler!  he  has  come  and  gone.' 

"I  rested  sometimes,  but  ever  on  the  ground, — the 
ground  he  had  trodden;  and  then  the  black,  vapory 
cord  seemed  to  coil  up  all  around  me  like  a  misty  gar- 
ment. I  tried  to  rest  once  on  a  bed  he  had  occupied, 
but  O  Heaven !  all  the  scene  of  the  murder  was  there. 
I  heard  her  shriek,  I  saw  her  struggle,  and  what  was 
still  more  horrible,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  the  mur- 
derer, and  was  actually  doing  the  deed  over  again.  I 
fled  from  the  place,  and  should  have  lost  the  track  had 
I  not  returned  to  it  again,  and  started  afresh  from  that 
house. 

w  To  one  like  me,  professor,  that  house  will  always  be 


GHOST  LAND.  69 

haunted;  that  is,  until  the  murderer's  shade  melts  away 
from  it;  and  it  will  do  so  in  time.  I  answer  your 
thought  again,  you  see,  professor.  It  was  near  mid- 
night, some  time — I  can  not  tell  how  long  —  after  I  had 
started,  that  the  black  cord  began  to  thicken  and  spread, 
and  at  length  to  assume  the  shape  of  a  man. 

"It  trembled  and  quivered,  and  at  first  was  only  the 
indistinct  outline  of  a  man,  but  presently  it  grew  more 
and  more  dense,  and  now  behold!  It  was  the  ghost  of 
the  Dutch  serving-man  in  full,  walking  just  so  far 
before  me,  above  the  ground  one  foot,  and  ever  look- 
ing over  its  shoulder  at  something  coming  after  it. 
That  man  went  to  a  great  many  places  in  the  town 
I  was  now  hunting  through,  for  the  ghost  was  at  every 
street-corner  and  in  every  alley,  and  lurking  in  all  the 
dark  lanes  and  by-streets ;  and  though  I  knew  he  must 
be  close  at  hand,  by  the  density  of  the  ghost,  still  he 
had  wandered  and  wandered,  and  lurked  about  in  so 
many  places  that  I  should  have  become  confused  had 
not  both  senses  been  suddenly  appealed  to  at  once. 
I  saw  him,  and  at  last  I  felt  him.  I  felt  him,  as  it  were, 
tugging  at  the  neckerchief  in  my  hand,  and  striving — 

0  holy  martyrs,  how  he  strove!  —  to  get  it  away  from 
me. 

"  Sirs,  he  was  just  then  thinking  about  that  necker- 
chief, remembering  he  had  lost  it  in  the  murdered  lady's 
room,  and  wishing  he  had  got  it,  and  cursing  his  folly, 
and  mentally  longing,  longing  to  get  it  back.  Lucky 
for  me  he  did  think  thus,  for  his  thought,  being  set  on 
the  neckerchief,  pulled  at  it  so  frantically  that  it  led  me 
straight  to  his  hiding-place,  and  there  and  then,  when 

1  saw  him,  and  screamed  that  that  was  the  murderer  of 
Frau  Ebenstein,  and  the  landlord  and  guests  of  the  inn 
cried  'Zwingler,  Zwingler!'  he  uttered  a  great  cry,  and 


70  GHOST  LAND. 

fell  as  if  he  had  been  struck;  and  then  it  was  they  cap- 
tured him  and  brought  him  thither." 

"Ay!  and  the  strangest  fact  of  all  this  is,  gentle- 
men," broke  in  the  grave  notary,  unable  to  keep  silence 
any  longer,  "that  this  wretch  had  changed  his  dress 
ever  so  many  times,  and  when  this  wonderful  Bohemian 
here  tracked  him  to  his  lair,  he  was  disguised  as  a  sailor, 
and  so  disguised  that  none  but  the  devil,  or  perhaps  his 
particular  ally,  Zwingler,  could  have  found  him  out." 

w  Pshaw ! "  replied  the  Bohemian,  scornfully,  "  what 
know  you  burghers  of  my  art?  I  do  not  track  the 
clothes  of  the  man,  but  the  man.  His  soul  was  in  his 
hand,  on  his  neck,  and  in  the  neckerchief  around  it 
wrhen  he  did  the  deed.  The  sleuth-hound  senses  his 
human  game  through  the  organ  of  smell.  I  sense  it 
through  smell,  touch,  taste,  sight,  and  hearing.  I  sense 
soul  through  perception.  Every  thing,  -every  place, 
where  soul  has  been,  is  full  of  it;  and  once  give  me  a 
link,  a  single  thread  of  association,  such  as  an  object 
the  soul  I  would  track  out  has  come  into  contact  with, 
and  the  depths  of  the  sea  can  not  hide  it,  the  mountains 
can  not  cover  it,  the  disguise  of  a  monarch  or  the  rags 
of  a  beggar  can  not  conceal  the  identity  of  the  man 
whose  soul  Zwingler  would  track  out.  But  remember, 
mein  Herren,  Zwingler  tracks  souls,  not  masking 
habits." 

The  little  Bohemian's  slight  form  seemed  to  expand, 
as  he  spoke  with  impassioned  gesture  and  rapid  utter- 
ance, into  the  proportions  of  a  giant;  and  as  he  turned 
away  to  reply  to  some  question  addressed  to  him  by 
one  of  his  admiring  auditors,  the  professor  murmured 
in  my  ear,  "  He  has  detected  more  criminals  in  this  way 
than  all  the  constabulary  of  Germany.  Give  him  but  a 
garment,  a  lock  of  hair,  or  even  a  rag  that  has  come  in 


GHOST  LAND.  71 

contact  with  a  living  organism,  and  he  will  track  out  its 
owner  with  a  fidelity  unmatched  by  the  best  blood- 
hound that  ever  ran."  Then  addressing  the  Bohemian, 
he  said  aloud,  "  Glorious  Zwingler !  as  wise  as  you 
are  gifted,  tell  my  foolish  young  son  here  what  you 
mean  by  a  soul.  He  is  eager  to  learn  of  you  what 
soul  really  is." 

"  Soul  is  the  life,  my  prince ;  you  know  that,"  replied 
Zwingler,  half  daunted,  as  he  always  seemed  to  be  when 
addressing  Piofessor  von  Marx. 

:?  You  think,  then,  soul  is  just  the  life  principle  and 
nothing  more ;  that  which  keeps  the  man  alive ;  is  that 
so?" 

"What  else  can  it  be?" 

"But  what  is  the  ' black  cord'  you  speak  of,  what  the 
essence  which  clings  to  substances  and  enables  you  to 
describe  or  sense  the  person  from  whom  it  has  flowed 
out?" 

?  The  soul,  of  course,  great  master." 

"Is  the  soul,  then,  a  substance?" 

"Is  the  air  a  substance,  the  wind  a  substance?  You 
can  not  see  or  feel  either  until  they  come  into  contact 
with  some  other  substance,  and  when  they  do,  although 
invisible,  you  know  they  are  something.  The  soul  is 
finer  than  air,  thinner  and  more  ethereal  than  wind,  and 
.only  some  souls  as  fine  and  pure  as  mine  can  sense  it. 
But  when  a  Marx  can  sense  the  air,  and  feel  the  wind, 
a  Zwingler  can  sense  the  soul  and  feel  the  substance." 

"Admirable,  my  little  philosopher!  and  now,  one 
question  more:  What  do  you  suppose  becomes  of  the 
soul  after  a  man  dies?" 

"Pshaw,  learned  master!  why  ask  me  so  foolish  a 
question?  What  becomes  of  the  body  after  a  man 
dies?  Why  not  ask  me  that?" 


72  GHOST  LAND. 

*  Why  not  indeed?"  muttered  the  professor,  glancing 
triumphantly  at  me.  "But,  Zwingler,  if  the  form  of  a 
soul  can  appear  whilst  a  man  lives,  can  it  not  and  does 
it  not  appear  sometimes  after  death?" 

"Does  not  the  body  appear  too,  if  you  look  for  it? 
Surely  it  does  not  all  fade  away  at  once,  but  decays  and 
corrupts  and  at  last  disappears.  ~No  doubt  soul  and 
body  both  wear  away,  fade  out,  and  melt  into  their 
original  elements  when  they  become  separated,  as  at 
death.  ~No  doubt,  too,  some  can  see  only  the  body,  and 
some,  like  Zwingler,. can  see  the  soul  as  well;  but  both 
live  only  when  they  are  together,  and  die  when  they 
are  apart;"  then  contracting  his  singularly  mobile  fea- 
tures into  a  frowri  of  impatience,  he  cried,  irritably, 
"  But  why  torment  me,  and  make  me  talk  about  things 
which  only  you  great  professors  understand?  I  hate  to 
think  of  death !  I  loathe  it!  I — I — fear  it!  I  wish  I 
could  live  forever ! "  He  was  about  to  dart  away,  when 
Professor  von  Marx  laid  a  hand  gently  on  his  arm;  the 
Bohemian  stood  as  if  transfixed,  and  muttered  submis- 
sively, 'What  more  would  you  have  of  me,  great 
professor?  " 

"  Only  to  accept  this  slight  token  of  my  young  friend's 
gratitude  for  your  instructive  narrative,  adept,"  replied 
the  professor;  and  as  he  spoke,  Herr  von  Marx  sud- 
denly snatched  from  me  the  locket  and  ribbon  of  poor 
Constance,  which  I  held  as  he  had  desired  during  the 
interview  in  my  right  hand,  and  which  he  now  as 
suddenly  placed  in  Zwingler's. 

Before  I  could  pronounce  a  word  of  protest  against 
this  unexpected  and  unwelcome  transfer,  the  Bohemian 
clutched  at  the  ornament  with  an  action  so  fearfully 
spasmodic  and  full  of  terror  that  the  words  I  would 
have  uttered  died  on  my  lips.  "Death  again!"  he  mur- 


GHOST  LAND.  73 

mured,  with  a  strangely  piteous  accent.  "Ever  sur- 
rounded with  the  faded  blossoms  of  dead  souls!  But 
ah  me!  this  was  a  cruel  death,  —  so  young,  so  fair,  so 
innocent;  and  destroyed,  too,  hy  the  hand  of  him  who 
should  have  been  her  protector!  Herr  Professor,  I 
shall  not  have  far  to  go  to  trace  the  soul  of  him  who 
did  this  deed  of  blood." 

"Hush,  little  dreamer!"  responded  the  professor  in 
a  low  whisper;  "your  art  is  not  wanted  here.  Stay! 
I  will  change  the  token.  Keep  this,  and  be  silent  or 
worse  will  come  of  it."  So  saying,  he  took  back  the 
locket,  returning  it  to  me,  and  placing  several  gold 
pieces  in  the  Bohemian's  hand,  led  me  through  the 
crowd,  who  opened  reverentially  to  permit  the  learned 
and  celebrated  Professor  von  Marx  to  pass  through. 
At  home  again,  and  in  our  quiet  lodgings,  the  ominous 
silence  of  the  last  hour  between  Professor  von  Marx 
and  myself  was  thus  broken :  — 

"What  think  you  of  Zwingler,  my  Louis?" 

"What  think  you  of  the  death,  or  rather  the  murder, 
of  Constance  Miiller,  my  master?" 

"Ever  harping  on  a  worn-out  theme  and  irrevocable 
past,  silly  boy!  Science  must,  will,  and  shall  have  its 
martyrs,  Louis,  and  woe  to  the  progress  of  the  race 
when  idle  emotion  erects  itself  to  match  the  interests 
of  science.  Enough,  once  and  forever,  of  this,  "^"hat 
think  you  of  Zwingler?" 

"He  fails  to  convince  me  that  an  apparition  of  a  soul 
after  death  is  only  an  apparition." 

"Then,  what  is  it  before  death?" 

*'Ay!  that  is  the  question." 

"  Zwingler's  mode  of  philosophizing  is  crude  enough," 
replied  Herr  von  Marx,  "but  the  philosophy  itself  is 
unanswerable.  Like  the  lower  elementary,  and  the 


74  GHOST  LAND. 

higher  planetary  spirits,  the  soul  of  man,  the  finest  and 
most  sublimated  condition  in  which  matter  exists,  inheres 
to  all  coarser  forms,  and  thus  it  can  be  sensed,  as  Zwin- 
gler  calls  it,  as  a  sphere,  sometimes  in  a  premonition  of 
its  approach,  sometimes  in  the  feeling  of  indescribable 
repulsion  or  attraction  which  we  conceive  for  strangers 
even  as  we  approach  them.  Sometimes  it  can  be  seen 
in  bodily  shape,  apart  from  the  body,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  ? double'  or  c atmospheric  spirit,'  and  sometimes  it 
can  be  seen  when  it  has  separated  entirely  from  the 
body,  ere  it  is  quite  resolved  back  again  into  its  origi- 
nal elements.  And  that  is  all." 

"And  that  is  all,"  I  mechanically  repeated,  feeling, 
however,  at  the  same  time  that  the  professor  was 
merely  reciting  a  lesson  in  a  form  of  words  familiar 
to  him,  whilst  his  spirit  was  strangely  abstracted,  and 
his  manner  vague  and  wandering  as  my  own  when  I 
repeated  his  last  words. 

As  the  professor  and  myself  relapsed  into  deep  silence, 
a  chiming  as  of  very  distant  bells  was  heard  in  the  air ;  a 
singular  radiance  stole  through  the  dim  twilight  obscu- 
rity of  our  chamber,  and  settled  about  the  table  strewed 
with  books,  at  which  in  the  past  morning  I  had  been 
studying.  That  radiance  at  first  appeared  like  a  shim- 
mering fire-mist;  then  it  expanded,  bent,  curled,  and  at 
last  ^seemed  to  weave  itself  into  the  proportions  of  a 
human  form.  Clearer,  brighter,  stronger  grew  the  vis- 
ion ;  at  length  the  mists  rose  and  parted  on  either  side, 
disclosing  the  shining  apparition  and  seraphic  features 
of  the  dead  Constance.  Turning  her  head  of  sunny 
glory  towards  me,  she  smiled,  then  bent  over  the  table, 
seemed  to  select  with  swift  action  a  large  Lutheran  Bible 
from  a  heap  of  books,  opened  it,  took  up  the  locket  and 
black  ribbon  I  had  laid  down  near  it,  placed  the  ribbon 


GHOST  LAND.  75 

like  a  mark  across  a  certain  passage,  pointed  to  it  em- 
phatically three  times,  then  with  such  a  smile  as  a  mortal 
could  scarcely  look  upon  and  live,  she  vanished  from  my 
sight,  and  all  was  darkness. 

AVhat  followed,  or  how  long  I  may  have  remained 
unconscious  of  life  and  being,  after  this  vision,  I  know 
not;  but  my  first  recognition  of  passing  events  was  the 
sound  of  Herr  von  Marx;s  voice  speaking  through  the 
thick  darkness  of  night  which  had  fallen  upon  us,  say- 
ing, "Louis,  are  you  awake?  Surely,  I  must  have  had  a 
long  sleep,  for  the  night  has  stolen  upon  me  unawares." 

The  janitor  at  this  moment  entered  with  lights,  and 
placed  them  on  a  sideboard.  The  professor,  rising  from 
his  seat,  took  one  of  the  lamps,  and  advancing  to  the  table 
held  it  over  the  open  Bible,  at  the  same  time  exclaiming 
in  a  voice  of  singular  agitation, "  Who  has  marked  these 
passages  ?  " 

I  advanced,  looked  over  his  shoulder,  and  saw  him 
remove  the  ribbon  and  locket,  only  to  disclose  several 
deep  black  lines,  drawn  as  if  with  Indian  ink,  beneath 
the  following  words,  in  different  parts  of  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians. 

'  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
body." 

w  Behold  I  show  you  a  mystery;  we  shall  not  all  sleep, 
but  we  shall  all  be  changed." 

w  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory." 

"  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory?" 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

MAGIC   IN  ENGLAND. 

BEFORE  I  had  completed  my  educational  term  in 
Europe,  I  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  good  father; 
but  immediately  after  his  death  I  received  letters  from 
my  mother  and  our  Hindoo  connections,  directing  me 
to  enter  upon  a  course  of  study  in  a  certain  military 
school  in  England,  where  I  was  to  fit  myself  for  follow- 
ing my  father's  profession  of  arms  in  India. 

Although  I  was  greatly  averse  to  this  course,  and 
would  have  preferred  any  other  occupation  rather  than 
that  of  a  soldier,  I  found  the  arrangements  for  my  con- 
tinuance in  Europe  were  made  contingent  upon  my 
compliance  with  these  directions,  and  I  had  become  so 
warmly  attached  to  Professor  von  Marx,  and  his  affec- 
tion for  me  had  become  such  an  indispensable  element 
in  my  existence,  that  I  was  willing  to  avail  myself  of 
any  opportunity  that  would  enable  me  to  remain  near 
him,  if  not  absolutely  so  much  in  his  society  as  formerly. 

My  mother  informed  me  that  honorable  distinction  and 
rapid  military  promotion  awaited  me  in  India,  through 
the  influence  of  my  father's  connections  and  the  high 
estimation  in  which  his  noble  services  had  been  held, 
and  she  besought  me  not  to  blight  all  the  hopes  she  had 
founded  upon  my  compliance  and  good  conduct,  and 
concluded  by  referring  me  to  the  parties  in  Europe  who 
would  carry  out  her  wishes  by  providing  for  my  studies 


GHOST  LAND.  77 

in  the  English  military  school.  Professor  von  Marx 
seemed  half  amused  as  well  as-  not  a  little  pleased  with 
the  sorrow  and  reluctance  I  exhibited  at  the  prospect  of 
my  separation  from  him.  He  told  me  his  professorship 
at  B had  been  accepted  rather  as  a  means  of  divert- 
ing attention  from  the  more  occult  pursuits  he  delighted 
in,  than  from  any  necessity  on  his  part  to  occupy  him- 
self in  scholastic  duties. 

Being,  as  he  said,  free  to  come  and  go  as  he  pleased, 
and  having  conceived  an  attachment  for  me  which 
would  render  our  separation  mutually  painful,  while  he 
advised  me  not  to  oppose  the  wishes  of  my  friends  in 
their  choice  of  a  profession,  he  completely  reconciled 
me  to  my  enforced  absence  from  Germany  by  fre- 
quently visiting  me  in  England,  and  spending  much 
of  his  .time  in  a  quiet  lodging  near  my  school,  where  he 
occupied  himself  in  his  favorite  studies,  and  enabled  me 
to  pass  all  my  leisure  hours  in  his  society.  Once  more, 
then,  we  devoted  ourselves  to  the  experiments  in  which 
we  had  been  engaged  with  the  Berlin  Brotherhood,  and 
as  I  invariably  spent  my  vacations  at  my  beloved 

friend's  residence  near  the  college  at  B ,  I  troubled 

myself  but  little  about  the  new  views  of  life  that  had 
been  opened  up  to  me.  My  mother  had  consented  to 
my  remaining  with  Professor  von  Marx  until  I  should 
have  completed  my  twenty-second  year;  but  as  time 
sped  on,  and  the  attachment  between  myself  and  the 
professor  deepened,  the  links  which  bound  me  to  that 
strange  man  seemed  to  have  become  interwoven  with 
my  very  heart-strings,  and  to  contemplate  rending 
them  asunder  was  to  me  an  idea  fraught  with  indescrib- 
able anguish.  After  the  lapse  of  many  years  of  time, 
and  with  every  youthful  heart-throb  stilled  into  the 
calm  of  waiting  expectation  until  the  mighty  change 


78  GHOST  LAND. 

shall  come,  even  now  I  can  hardly  recall  the  life  of 
indescribable  oneness  and  magnetic  sympathy  which 
attached  me  to  my  singular  associate  without  amaze- 
ment that  the  identity  of  one  human  being  should  have 
become  so  entirely  merged  in  that  of  another.  In  his 
presence  I  felt  strong  to  act,  clear  to  think,  and  prompt 
to  speak;  yet  by  some  strange  fatuity,  it  seemed  to  me 
as  if  acts,  thoughts,  and  words  took  their  shape  from 
him,  and  without  the  least  effort  on  my  part  to  discover 
or  inquire  his  will,  I  know  that  I  lived  beneath  its  influ- 
ence, and  derived  my  chief  motives  for  speech  and 
action  from  the  silent  flow  of  his  thoughts.  When  I 
was  absent  from  him,  I  became  an  indescribably  lost 
creature.  I  was  dreamy,  uncertain,  wandering;  not  so 
much  a  child  as  a  being  without  a  soul, — one  in  whom 
instinct  remained,  but  self-consciousness  lacked  the 
pivot  on  which  to  revolve,  and  hence  the  wheels  of 
mind  vibrated  and  swung  to  and  fro,  searching  for  the 
sustaining  power  on  which  to  anchor. 

I  can  now  discern  the  secret  of  this  mystic  spell, 
although  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  ever  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  a  case  in  which  one  soul  had  ac- 
quired over  another  an  equal  amount  of  control.  The 
magnetic  life  of  Professor  von  Marx  had  been  infused 
into  my  system  until  I  was  a  part  of  himself;  his 
strong  and  persuasive  will  had  pierced  my  very  brain, 
until  it  had  found  a  lodgment  in  the  innermost  seat  of 
intelligence. 

By  a  mutual  understanding,  though  without  any  out- 
ward expression  in  words,  I  considered  myself  the 
adopted  son  of  Professor  von  Marx,  and  I  not  only 
felt  restful  and  happy  in  this  tacit  arrangement,  but  I 
vaguely  speculated  upon  the  possibility  of  my  soul's 
becoming  soon  separated  from  the  frail  tenement  it 


GHOST  LAND.  79 

inhabited,  and  perhaps  absorbed  in  the  grander  and 
more  exalted  entity  of  the  being  I  so  strangely  idolized. 

I  do  not  know  to  this  day  how  far  the  professor  real- 
ized his  magical  power  over  me.  He  knew  that  I  read 
his  thoughts  like  an  open  page.  He  was  able  to  con- 
ceal or  reveal  his  will  to  me  at  pleasure,  and  without  a 
word  spoken.  I  knew  when  he  willed  to  shut  his 
thought  from  me,  and  at  such  times  I  was  a  blank. 

When  there  was  no  such  mental  wall  erected  between 
us,  all  was  as  clear  and  lucid  to  me  as  if  he  were  my- 
self. I  prepared  myself  to  walk  or  ride  with  him,  came 
and  went  as  he  wished,  and  all  without  a  word  spoken 
or  a  gesture  made. 

Professor  von  Marx  was,  I  now  know,  fondly  at- 
tached to  me,  and,  I  think,  pitied  my  fearful  subjection 
to  his  will  even  whilst  he  enjoyed  its  triumphant 
exercise. 

This  true  gentleman  was  gravely  courteous  to  the 
female  sex,  but  never  seemed  to  realize  the  slightest 
attraction  towards  them  as  companions.  He  under- 
stood them,  as  indeed  he  understood  every  one  he 
approached;  but  though  he  never  conversed  with  me 
on  the  subject,  I  perceived  that  he  viewed  the  yielding 
and  intuitive  characteristics  of  the  female  mind  with 
lofty  contempt,  and  his  intense  and  all-absorbing  devo- 
tion to  the  peculiar  studies  he  had  adopted  made  him 
coldly  indifferent  to  the  attractions  of  female  beauty. 
Eminently  handsome  in  person,  and  polished  though 
cold  in  manner,  he  might  have  commanded  the  adora- 
tion of  even  the  fairest  in  any  land.  Why  I  alone,  of 
all  the  human  family,  ever  seemed  to  move  his  stoical 
heart  to  the  least  emotion  can  only  be  accounted  for  on 
the  hypothesis  that  there  was  something  of  a  reciprocal 
action  in  the  magnetic  processes  which  had  so  wonder- 


80  GHOST  LAND. 

fully  bound  me  to  him,  and  that  in  the  absorption  of 
his  magnetic  influence  on  my  part,  he  involuntarily 
received  in  exchange  influences  from  the  elemental 
life  which  he  displaced  in  my  organism.  Magnetizers 
not  unfrequently  imbibe  some  of  the  qualities  of  disease, 
or  even  the  psychological  tendencies  of  their  patients, 
and  call  it  sympathy. 

"When  the  term  of  my  studies  at  the  English  military 
school  ended,  I  accompanied  my  beloved  friend  on  a 
tour  through  Europe  and  the  East,  which  occupied  us 
for  many  months,  at  the  end  of  which,  Professor  von 
Marx  informed  me  that  his  presence  would  be  required 
for  several  months  in  London,  upon  business  of  impor- 
tance connected  with  the  interests  of  a  certain  society 
with  which  he  was  associated.  As  I  had  never  visited 
the  great  British  capital,  my  dear  master  promised  him- 
self much  satisfaction  from  my  introduction  to  a  highly 
esteemed  English  friend  of  his,  and  the  opportunity  that 
would  be  afforded  me  for  observing  the  progress  of 
occultism  amongst  its  votaries  in  England. 

Dark,  blighting,  and  inauspicious  was  the  day  when 
first  Professor  von  Marx  and  myself  established  our- 
selves in  an  old-fashioned,  time-worn  mansion,  a  portion 
of  which  we  were  to  rent  during  our  stay  in  London. 
The  fire  blazed  in  the  grate,  and  the  mellow  light  of 
softly  gleaming  lamps  lent  a  cheering  lustre  to  the  scene, 
however,  as  we  sat,  on  the  first  evening  of  our  arrival,  in 
company  with  two  guests  to  whom  we  had  dispatched 
letters  of  introduction,  and  who  had  hastened  to  wel- 
come us,  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  to  the  British 
metropolis. 

One  of  our  visitors,  a  gentleman  of  most  estimable 
character  and  high  social  position,  was  an  old  college 
companion  of  Professor  von  Marx,  and  it  appears  that 


GHOST  LAND.  81 

ill  early  youth  they  had  been  sworn  friends,  and  associ- 
ates in  many  of  the  societies  to  which  the  professor 
belonged.  This  gentleman,  who  subsequently  enacted 
a  most  important  part  in  the  drama  of  my  own  fateful 
life,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  name,  but  for  the  sake 
of  perspicuity  I  shall  beg  my  readers  to  recognize  his 
frequent  appearances  in  these  pages  under  the  nom  de 
plume  of  Mr.  John  Cavendish  Dudley.  The  person- 
age who  accompanied  Mr.  Dudley  was,  like  himself,  a 
distinguished  occultist,  but  his  chief  object  in  making  us 
this  early  visit  was  to  press  upon  us  the  hospitalities  of 
his  town  and  country  residences;  in  fact,  he  was,  as  he 
expressed  it,  burning  with  impatience  to  renew  his  early 
intimacy  with  the  esteemed  friend  of  his  boyhood,  Felix 
von  Marx,  and  he  could  scarcely  be  persuaded  that  the 
professor  was  immovable  in  his  resolution  to  retain  a 
private  home  for  himself  and  his  adopted  son,  as  he 
called  me,  during  our  stay  in  England,  and  only  to  make 
occasional  visits  from  thence  to  the  houses  of  friends. 

Mr.  Dudley  and  his  companion,  Sir  James  M , 

were  very  enthusiastic  in  their  description  of  the  won- 
derful seances  they  enjoyed  amongst  the  occultists  of 
Great  Britain.  They  surprised  us  by  citing  the  names 
of  a  great  many  persons  highly  distinguished  both  in 
the  ranks  of  fashion  and  literature,  who  were  members 
of  the  British  branch  of  an  association  to  which  Profes- 
sor von  Marx  had  been  elected  an  honorary  member, 
and  to  which  they  both  belonged.  They  assured  us  the 
professor's  high  renown  as  an  adept  of  the  most  remark- 
able power,  and  mine  as  the  famous  somnambulist  of 
the  Berlin  Brotherhood,  had  already  preceded  us,  and 
our  arrival  was  looked  forward  to  with  the  utmost  impa- 
tience by  the  students  of  occultism  in  Great  Britain. 

They  expected  much  of  us  too,  because  they  were  led 

6 


82  GHOST  LAND. 

to  believe  the  German  mind  was  more  than  ordinarily 
capable  of  analyzing  the  unseen,  and  mastering  the 
mysteries  of  the  imponderable.  A  few  hours  conversa- 
tion with  these  gentlemen,  however,  convinced  us  that 
in  point  of  varied  experience,  their  magical  information 
was  not  quite  equal  to  our  own,  though  they  had  visited 
Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Iceland,  and  almost  every 
part  of  Scandinavia,  carefully  acquainting  themselves 
with  the  wild  legendary  lore  of  those  regions,  and 
taking  part  in  many  of  their  singular  ceremonies  of 
spiritual  invocation. 

In  Lapland,  Finland,  and  the  northeastern  part  of 
Russia,  our  new  acquaintances  had  beheld  so  many 
evidences  of  inborn  occult  powers  amongst  the  natives 
that  they  had  come  to  a  conclusion  which  the  well-in- 
formed Spiritualist  of  modern  times  will  no  doubt  be 
ready  to  endorse,  and  that  is,  that  certain  individuals 
of  the  race  are  so  peculiarly  and  organically  endowed, 
that  they  live,  as  it  were,  on  the  borders  of  the  invisible 
world,  and  from  time  to  time  see,  hear,  act,  and  think 
under  its  influence,  as  naturally  as  other  individuals  do 
who  are  only  capable  of  sensing  material  and  external 
things. 

Moreover,  our  friends  had  arrived  at  the  opinion  that 
certain  localities  and  climatic  influences  were  favorable 
or  otherwise  to  the  development  of  these  innate  occult 
endowments. 

Experience  had  shown  them  that  mountainous  regions 
or  highly  rarefied  atmospheres  constituted  the  best  phys- 
ical conditions  for  the  evolvement  of  magical  powers,  and 
they  therefore  argued  that  the  great  prevalence  of  super- 
mundane beliefs  and  legendary  lore  in  those  latitudes 
arises  from  the  fact  that  intercourse  with  the  interior 
realms  of  being  is  the  universal  experience  of  the  peo- 


GHOST  LAND.  83 

pie,  not  that  they  are  more  ignorant  or  superstitious 
than  other  races.  Mr.  Dudley  had  brought  to  England 
with  him  a  scJiaman,  or  priest,  of  a  certain  district  in 
Russia,  where  he  had  given  extraordinary  evidences  of 
his  powers.  This  man's  custom  was  to  array  himself 
in  a  robe  of  state,  trimmed  with  the  finest  furs  and 
loaded  with  precious  stones,  amongst  which  clear  crys- 
tals were  the  most  esteemed. 

In  this  costume,  with  head,  arms,  and  feet  bare,  the 
scliaman  would  proceed  to  beat  a  magical  drum,  made 
after  a  peculiar  fashion,  and  adorned  with  a  variety  of 
symbolical  and  fantastic  paintings. 

Commencing  his  exercises  by  simply  standing  within 
a  circle  traced  on  the  ground,  and  beating  his  drum  in 
low,  rhythmical  cadence  to  his  muttered  chantings,  the 
scliaman  would  gradually  rise  to  a  condition  of  uncon- 
trollable frenzy;  his  hands  would  acquire  a  muscular 
power  and  rapidity  which  caused  the  drum  to  resound 
with  the  wildest  clamor,  and  strokes  which  defied  the 
power  of  man  to  count. 

His  body,  meantime,  would  sway  to  and  fro,  spin 
round,  and  finally  be  elevated  and  even  suspended  sev- 
eral feet  in  the  air,  by  a  power  wholly  unknown  to  the 
witnesses.  His  cries  and  gesticulations  were  frightful, 
and  the  whole  scene  of  "  manticism  "  would  end  by  the 
performer's  sinking  on  the  earth  in  a  rigid  cataleptic 
state,  during  which  he  spoke  oracular  sentences,  or 
gave  answers  to  questions  with  a  voice  which  seemed 
to  proceed  from  the  air  some  feet  above  his  prostrate 
form.  During  my  stay  in  England  I  was  present  at 
several  experimental  performances  with  this  scliaman^ 
and  though  he  could  unquestionably  predict  the  future 
and  describe  correctly  distant  places  and  persons,  Pro- 
fessor von  Marx  and  myself  were  both  disappointed  in 


84  GHOST  LAND. 

the  results  which  we  expected  to  proceed  from  his  very 
elaborate  modes  of  inducing  the  "  mantic  "  frenzy.  Mr. 
Dudley  accounted  for  the  inferiority  of  his  protege's 
powers  by  stating  that  the  atmosphere  was  prejudicial 
to  his  peculiar  temperament,  and  though  he  had  striven 
to  surround  him  with  favorable  conditions,  it  was  ob- 
vious he  needed  the  specialties  of  his  native  soil  and 
climate  for  the  complete  evolvement  of  the  phenomena 
he  had  been  accustomed  to  exhibit. 

Amongst  the  distinguished  persons  into  whose  soci- 
ety Professor  von  Marx  and  myself  were  now  admitted, 
we  found  several  individuals  of  the  magical  type,  who 
had  been  imported  by  earnest  students  from  different 
countries,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  their  investigations. 
One  of  these  mystics  was  a  native  of  the  Isle  of  Skye, 
and  had  been  remarkable  for  his  gift  of  "  second  sight." 
Panoramic  representations  of  future  events,  with  all  the 
vivid  imagery  of  well-defined  persons  and  circumstances, 
would  be  presented  to  this  man's  waking  vision,  like  a 
picture  daguerreotyped  on  the  atmosphere. 

Another  of  the  marvel-workers  was  a  young  Lap- 
lander, whose  powers  and  methods  of  awakening  them 
were  not  unlike  those  of  the  schaman  described  above, 
only  that  he  seemed  to  possess  an  innate  faculty  of  clair- 
voyant perception,  which  did  not  always  necessitate  the 
magical  frenzy  to  call  into  play. 

There  were  several  other  personages,  all  imported 
from  northern  lands,  through  whom  our  new  friends 
attempted  to  conduct  experiments;  but  it  seemed  that 
in  each  case  the  powers  for  which  these  weird  people 
had  been  distinguished  had  either  diminished  or  utterly 
failed  them  when  taken  away  from  the  influence  of  their 
home  surroundings.  The  islander  from  Skye  had  only 
beheld  one  vision  since  he  had  quitted  his  native  shores, 


GHOST  LAND.  85 

and  that  was  the  scene  of  a  shipwreck,  in  which,  as  he 
affirmed,  he  was  destined  to  perish,  and  for  which  reason 
he  had  steadily  refused  to  return  home,  although  his 
gifts  as  a  seer  were  now  suspended.  It  is  a  curious  fact, 
and  worthy  of  record,  that  this  Skye  man,  having  been 
placed  in  service  as  a  gardener,  was  arrested  for  theft, 
convicted,  sentenced  to  transportation,  and  after  having 
been  removed  to  the  convict  ship,  finally  perished  in  a 
gale,  during  which  the  ship,  with  all  her  hapless  load  of 
crime  and  suffering,  was  lost. 

We,  that  is,  my  master  and  myself,  saw  little  or  noth- 
ing amongst  the  w  magicians  "  whom  our  new  friends 
had  taken  such  trouble  to  surround  themselves  with,  that 
equalled  the  experiences  of  our  Teutonic  associates,  but 
our  opportunities  for  enlarging  our  sphere  of  observation 
strengthened  our  belief  in  the  following  items  of  spiritual 
philosophy:  first,  that  there  are  individvals  who  possess 
by  nature  all  the  prophetical,  clairvoyant,  and  otherwise 
supermundane  powers  which  are  only  to  be  evoked  in 
different  organisms  by  magical  rites  or  magnetic  pro- 
cesses. 

Next,  we  found  another  and  a  still  larger  class,  who 
seemed  externally  to  have  no  extraordinary  endowments 
of  a  spiritual  nature,  yet  in  whom  the  most  wonderful 
powers  of  inner  light,  curative  virtue,  and  prophetic  vis- 
ion could  be  awakened  through  artificial  means,  the  most 
potent  of  which  were  the  inhalation  of  mephitic  vapors, 
pungent  essences,  or  narcotics ;  the  action  of  clamorous 
noise  or  soothing  music;  the  process  of  looking  into 
glittering  stones  and  crystals;  excessive  and  violent 
action,  especially  in  a  circular  direction;  and  lastly, 
through  the  exhalations  proceeding  from  the  warm 
blood  of  animated  beings.  All  these  influences,  to- 
gether with  an  array  of  forms,  rites,  and  ceremonials 


86  GHOST  LAND. 

which  involve  mental  action  and  captivate  the  senses,  I 
now  affirm  to  constitute  the  art  of  ancient  magic,  and  I 
moreover  believe  that  wherever  these  processes  are  sys- 
tematically resorted  to,  they  will,  in  more  or  less  force, 
according  to  the  susceptibility  of  the  subject,  evoke  all 
those  occult  powers  known  as  ecstacy,  somnambulism, 
clairvoyance,  the  gifts  of  prophecy,  healing,  etc. 

"We  derived  another  remarkable  item  of  philosophy 
from  our  researches,  which  was  that  under  the  influ- 
ence of  some  of  the  magical  processes  practised  by 
our  new  associates,  the  human  organism  can  not  only 
be  rendered  insensible  to  pain,  but  that  wounds,  bruises, 
and  even  mutilation  can  be  inflicted  upon  it  without 
permanent  injury;  also,  that  it  can  be  rendered  positive 
to  the  law  of  gravitation,  and.  ascend  into  the  air  with 
perfect  ease. 

Also,  the  body  can  be  so  saturated  with  magnetism, 
or  charged  with  spiritual  essence,  that  fire  can  not 
burn  it;  in  a  word,  when  the  body  becomes  enveloped 
in  the  indestructible  essence  of  spirit,  or  the  soul  ele- 
ment, it  can  be  made  wholly  positive  to  all  material 
laws,  transcending  them  in  a  way  astonishing  and 
inexplicable  to  all  uninstructed  beholders.  Of  this 
class  of  phenomena,  history  has  made  such  frequent 
mention  that  I  feel  justified  in  calling  attention  towards 
the  array  of  evidence  we  possess  on  the  subject.  Let 
me  refer  to  the  w  Convulsionaires  of  St.  Medard";  the 
history  of  the  "  French  Prophets  of  Avignon  " ;  the  still 
more  recent  accounts  of  the  frightful  mental  epidemic 
which  prevailed  in  the  district  of  Morzine  in  1864;  the 
now  well-attested  facts  of  supermundane  power  enacted 
by  the  fakirs,  brahmins,  and  ecstatics  of  the  East,  and 
many  of  the  inexplicable  physical  and  mental  phenom- 
ena attributed  to  monastic  "ecstatics." 


GHOST  LAND.  87 

Amongst  the  "  Convulsionaires  of  St.  Medard"  and 
the  possessed  peasants  of  Morzine,  one  of  the  most 
familiar  demonstrations  of  an  extra-mundane  condition 
was  the  delight  and  apparent  relief  which  the  sufferers 
represented  themselves  as  experiencing  when  blows, 
violent  enough,  as  it  would  seem,  to  have  crushed 
them  bone  by  bone,  were  administered  to  them.  At 
the  tomb  of  the  Abbe  Paris,  and  amongst  the  frenzied 
patients  of  Morzine,  the  most  pathetic  appeals  would 
be  made  that  sturdy,  powerful  men  would  pound  and 
beat  their  bodies  with  huge  mallets,  and  the  cries  of 
"Heavier  yet,  good  brother!  Heavier  yet,  for  the  love 
of  Heaven ! "  were  amongst  the  words  that  were  most 
constantly  uttered. 

During  the  fearful  struggle  maintained  by  the  brave 
and  devoted  prophets  of  the  Cevennes  against  their 
oppressors,  every  history,  whether  favorable  or  antag- 
onistic, makes  mention  of  the  exhibitions  by  which 
Cavillac  and  others  of  the  "inspired"  proved  their 
ability,  under  the  afflatus  of  ecstacy,  to  resist  the 
action  of  fire. 

Amongst  a  vast  number  of  records  concerning  the 
mystical  power  of  the  spirit  to  act  upon  and  through 
matter,  we  may  cite  the  lives  of  some  of  those  remark- 
able personages  canonized  by  the  Catholic  Church  as 
saints. 

In  the  experiences  of  Saint  Teresa,  Saint  Bridgetta, 
Saint  Catherine,  and  many  other  "holy  women/'  we  are 
confidently  informed  that  an  actual  "  stigmata "  was 
developed  on  their  hands,  feet,  and  sides,  in  imitation 
of  the  wounds  attributed  to  the  martyr  of  Calvary. 
Their  foreheads  were  encircled  by  marks  as  of  a  crown 
of  thorns,  and  drops  of  blood  were  seen  to  ooze  from 
the  stigmata  at  stated  periods. 


88  GHOST  LAND. 

Of  the  Arabian  fire-eaters  and  Hindoo  ecstatics,  I 
shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter;  for  the  present  I  close 
this  long  and  discursive  chapter  with  a  few  passages  of 
explanation  concerning  the  existence  of  magical  prac- 
tices and  magical  experiments  in  stern,  gloomy,  matter- 
of-fact  old  England. 

Nearly  all  the  English  gentlemen  to  whom  Professor 
von  Marx  had  letters  of  introduction  were  members  of 
secret  societies,  and,  with  one  exception,  pursued  their 
studies  in  the  direction  of  magic,  deeming  they  could 
ultimately  resolve  the  nature  and  use  of  all  occult 
powers  into  a  scientific  system,  analogous  to  the  magi- 
cal art  as  practised  in  the  days  of  antiquity.  The  one' 
exception  which  I  refer  to  is  an  order  that  owes  nothing 
of  its  working  or  existence  to  this  age  or  time.  Its 
actual  nature  is  only  recognized,  spoken,  or  thought  of 
as  a  dream,  a  memory  of  the  past,  evoked  like  a  phan- 
tom from  the  realms  of  tradition  or  myth;  yet  as  surely 
as  there  is  a  spirit  in  man,  is  there  in  the  world  a  spir- 
itual, though  nameless  and  almost  unknown  association 
of  men,  drawn  together  by  the  bonds  of  soul,  associ- 
ated by  those  interior  links  which  never  fade  or  perish, 
belonging  to  all  times,  places,  and  nations  alike.  Few 
can  attain  to  the  inner  light  of  these  spiritually  associ- 
ated brethren,  or  apprehend  the  significance  of  their 
order;  enough  that'  it  is,  has  been,  and  will  be,  until 
all  men  are  spiritualized  enough  to  partake  of  its 
exalted  dispensations.  Some  members  of  this  sublime 
Brotherhood  were  in  session  in  England,  and  their 
presence  it  was  which  really  sent  thither  my  master  and 
myself,  at  the  time  of  which  I  write. 

That  there  should  exist  within  the  very  heart  of 
rationalism  and  Christian  piety,  England,  more  than 
one  secret  society  addicted  to  magical  practices  and 


GHOST  LAND.  89 

superstitious  rites,  but  above  all,  that  the  highest  order 
of  mystics  in  the  world  should  be  uttering  its  potent 
spells  in  the  midst  of  the  great  modern  Babylon,  dedi- 
cated to  the  worship  of  mammon  and  pauperism,  is  a 
statement  so  startling  and  original  that  I  expect  few 
but  the  initiated  into  its  actualities  to  credit  me,  and 
many  of  my  readers,  especially  good,  honest,  matter- 
of-fact  English  people  themselves,  to  denounce  me 
as  a  lunatic  or  a  modern  Munchausen.  I  can  only 
say,  I  write  of  that  which  I  know,  and  of  what  many 
esteemed  and  reputable  citizens,  in  their  private  expe- 
riences, know  likewise;  and  if  good,  honest,  matter-of- 
fact  English  people  would  only  remember  there  might 
be  realms  of  being  both  higher  and  lower  than  man's, 
links  of  connection  and  mutual  understanding  through- 
out the  universe,  and  some  few  things  more  in  heaven 
and  earth  than  they  (worthy  folk!)  dream  of  in  their 
philosophy,  the  magicians  of  England  would  not  feel 
compelled,  for  their  credit  and  honor's  sake,  to  make 
their  societies  secret  ones. 

As  it  was,  the  clairvoyants,  seers,  and  weird  subjects 
whom  the  societies  procured  for  their  experiments  were 
generally  employed  in  families,  shops,  or  some  simple 
ways  of  business,  which  effectually  concealed  their  real 
characters.  The  magical  experiments  were  conducted 
with  the  strictest  reserve  and  caution;  and  it  is  only 
since  the  advent  of  modern  Spiritualism,  with  its  re- 
markable and  wide-spread  commonplaces  in  wonderful 
things,  that  the  world  has  begun  to  discover  that  spir- 
itual facts  and  experiences  in  Great  Britain  are  several 
years  older  than  the  movement  of  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century. 

It  was  some  few  weeks  after  our  arrival  in  London, 
and  one  night  just  as  I  was  taking  leave  of  my  dear 


90  GHOST  LAND. 

master  for  the  night,  that  the  following  conversation 
ensued  between  us. 

"Louis,  you  have  hitherto  taken  no  part  amongst 
these  English  magicians.  I  have  secluded  you  from  all 
exercise  of  your  powers  because  —  but  you  know  the 
reasons,  do  you' not?'1 

"  Perfectly,  my  master :  you  wished  me  to  have  some 
rest,  and  to  imbibe  fresh  force  for  future  efforts;  fur- 
thermore, you  desired  that  I  should  have  calm  and  de- 
liberate opportunities  for  observation.  Is  it  not  so?" 

?  You  understand  me  thoroughly ;  and  now,  what 
conclusions  have  you  arrived  at,  from  all  you  have  wit- 
nessed? " 

"  Conclusions !  O  my  master,  I  am  more  and  more 
lost  in  an  ocean  of  speculation;  more  wildly  tost  than 
ever  before  on  the  unresting  billows  of  a  shoreless  sea! 
I  realize  the  interference  and  all-persuasive  power  of 
invisible  realms  of  being,  but  who  or  what  they  are  be- 
comes to  me  each  day  an  ever-deepening  mystery.  I 
perceive  each  hour  fresh  evidences  of  a  wonderful  and 
mysterious  fountain  of  influence  in  human  beings,  —  ay, 
at  times  in  the  animal  creation  also;  but  who  can 
fathom  its  depths,  gauge  its  possibilities,  define  where  it 
lies,  or  pronounce  upon  its  destiny?  The  earth  and  the 
creatures  that  live  upon  it  are  all  dual,  and  evidently 
maintain  a  dual  existence;  but  I  know  no  more  the 
limitations  of  my  own  being  than  I  do  of  the  *  double 
goers  '  who  flash  before  our  eyes  like  tongues  of  flame 
or  meteoric  lights.  Alas !  alas !  I  think,  believe,  hope, 
and  fear  too  much,  and  know  too  little." 

c  You  shall  know  more;  know — ay,  even  the  abso- 
lute, soon,  my  Louis,"  rejoined  the  professor,  with  a 
deeper  glow  on  his  cheek  and  a  more  brilliant  flash  of 
his  star-like  eyes  than  I  had  ever  seen  before;  then, 


GHOST  LAND.  91 

after  a  strange,  long  pause,  in  which  he  seemed  fixed 
and  abstracted  like  one  entranced,  he  drew  a  letter  from 
his  bosom,  glanced  at  it,  and  heaved  a  sigh  so  deep  that 
it  almost  amounted  to  a  wail.  That  letter  he  turned 
over  several  times  in  his  hand,  gazing  now  on  the  large 
seal  which  closed  it,  now  on  the  direction,  which  was  in 
his  own  bold  writing,  and  marked  simpry,  "  To  my 
Louis."  The  painful  sigh,  the  first  and  only  token  of 
deep  emotion  I  had  ever  heard  from  this  man,  was  re- 
peated several  times;  at  length  he  placed  the  letter  in 
my  hands,  saying  with  an  air  of  singular  solemnity, 
"Keep  this  in  the  most  secret  repository  you  have, 
and  never  open  it  until  a  voice,  the  most  authoritative 
to  you  on  earth,  shall  say,  '  The  time  has  come.  Open 
and  read!' 

w  Good-night,  Louis.  Your  experiences  as  a  mystic  in 
England  are  now  about  to  commence." 

w  Good-night,  my  master,"  I  responded  aloud,  adding 
mentally,  "  Would  God  they  were  about  to  close  in  the 
sleep  that  knows  no  waking !  " 

?  The  death-sleep  of  earth  is  the  waking  life  of  eter- 
nity," murmured  a  sweet,  low  voice,  close  to  my  ear. 
I  started,  and  looked  for  the  speaker.  Professor  von 
Marx  was  gone,  and  the  luminous  apparition  of  the 
beautiful  Constance  flitted  by  me  like  an  electric  flash, 
and  vanished  into  the  darkness,  so  much  the  more  pro- 
found that  she  had  been  there. 


CHAPTEE  YI. 

MAGICAL   StiA^CES  Ltf  ENGLAND. 

"No  page  of  retrospect  in  my  fateful  life-wanderings 
excites  in  me  more  surprise  than  the  inferiority  of  the 
results  obtained  through  magical  processes,  when  com- 
pared with  those  which  seem  to  arise  spontaneously  as 
an  organic  peculiarity  of  certain  individuals.  Our  Eng- 
lish associates  had  studied  with  profound  and  scholarly 
research  most  of  the  arts  of  magic  recorded  by  the  mys- 
tics of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  sages  of  classic  lands,  and 
the  thaumaturgists  of  the  East.  Many  of  them  were  per- 
fectly well  versed  in  the  cabala,  with  all  its  veiled  mys- 
ticism and  apocalyptic  significance;  some  of  them  had 
been  initiated  into  the  rites  of  both  ancient  and  modern 
freemasonry,  and  become  affiliated  with  the  most  poten- 
tial of  the  Oriental  societies  now  in  existence.  Like 
Moses,  Thales,  Orpheus,  and  other  sages  of  old,  they 
had  mastered  the  secrets  of  Egyptian  wisdom,  Chaldean 
astrology,  and  Persian  chemistry;  yet  notwithstanding 
all  their  occult  knowledge  and  the  fidelity  with  which 
they  strove  to  make  it  a  practical  power,  they  failed  to 
achieve  the  feats  common  to  the  whirling  dervishes  of 
Arabia  or  the  wandering  fakirs  of  modern  India,  whilst 
the  glimpses  they  obtained  of  the  invisible  realms  around 
them  were  vague,  unsatisfactory,  and  partial;  indeed, 
many  a  good  somnambulist  would  have  regarded  them 
with  pity  if  not  contempt,  and  any  powerful  "spirit 


it 


• 

GHOST  LAND.  93 

medium  "  of  this  day  could  have  displayed  more  pheno- 
mena by  aid  of  a  dancing  table  in  five  minutes  than 
many  of  these  really  earnest  students  could  have  evolved 
by  magical  processes  in  five  times  five  years  of  profound 
occult  experiments. 

The  methods  of  the  great  majority  of  the  magians  I 
was  now  introduced  to  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as 
follows :  Their  first  aim  was  to  secure  the  services  of 
such  an  one  as  they  could  discover  to  be  a  good  natural 
magician,  —  one  whom  the  spiritists  of  to-day  would 
call  "  a  good  clairvoyant "  or  w  medium,"  and  we  Teutons 
style  w  a  seer. "  This  prerequisite  obtained  and  the 
society  in  session,  they  proceeded  to  form  a  circle  on 
the  ground,  prepared  after  the  fashion  prescribed  by  Cor- 
nelius Agrippa  or  some  of  the  mediaeval  mystics.  They 
formed  their  book  of  spirits  on  the  same  approved  pat-  • 
terns,  and  carefully  conformed  to  every  item  of  the  magi- 
cal ritual  or  other  formulae  declared  to  have  been  derived 
from  the  magians  of  Egypt  and  Chaldea  and  practised 
by  such  renowned  mystics  as  Thos.  Aquinas,  Albertus 
Magnus,  Nostradamus,  Count  St.  Germain,  etc.  I  found 
the  practices  of  different  societies  varied  but  little,  and 
consisted  chiefly  in  a  due  observance  of  days,  hours, 
times,  and  seasons,  planetary,  solar,  and  lunar  phases. 
Much  reliance  was  placed  on  the  fumigations  said  to  be 
appropriate  to  different  days  of  the  week,  months  and 
seasons ;  in  a  word,  our  English  associates  had  carefully 
studied  the  formulae  of  magic  as  taught  in  the  writings  of 
Oriental  and  classical  authorities,  and  faithfully  endeav- 
ored to  practicalize  the  directions  laid  down,  as  far  as  the 
usages  of  modern  society  permitted. 

To  those  who  are  unfamiliar  with  the  occult  subjects  , 
I  am  now  treating  of,  let  me  say  with  all  candor,  I 
have  faithfully  devoted  many  years  to  the  study  of 


94  GHOST  LAND. 

spiritual  mysteries;  and  both  in  my  own  person  and 
that  of  my  numerous  associates  of  many  lands  have  en- 
deavored, by  aid  of  all  the  light  I  could  obtain,  whether 
derived  from  ancient  or  modern  sources,  to  discover 
what  were  the  most  effective  methods  of  communing 
with  the  invisible  world  and  penetrating  into  the  actual-  I 
ities  of  other  realms  of  being  than  those  of  mortality. 
The  sum  of  all,  to  my  apprehension,  is  that  man,  to  '• 
obtain  this  boon,  must  be  born  a  natural  magician, 
or  in  more  familiar  phase,  "  a  good  spirit  medium." 
Also  that  clairvoyance,  clairaudience,  scership,  and  all 
those  spiritual  gifts  by  which  human  beings  can  attain 
the  privilege  of  communion  with  spirits,  consist  in  cer- 
tain organic  specialties  of  constitution,  naturally  apper- 
taining to  some  individuals,  and  latent  in  others,  though 
susceptible  of  unfoldment  by  modes  of  culture.  I  believe 
that  forms,  rites,  and  invocatory  processes,  fumigations, 
spells,  —  in  a  word,  the  science  and  practice  of  magic, 
may  be  applied  as  means  to  aid  in  this  communion,  and 
are  especially  potent  in  enabling  the  operators  to  exer- 
cise control  over  lower  orders  of  spirits  than  themselves; 
but  I  affirm  that  they  are  inoperative  to  open  up  the 
communion  as  a  primary  means,  and  that  without  the 
services  of  a  good  seer,  clairvoyant,  or  spirit  medium, 
magical  rites  alone  cannot  succeed  in  evolving  spiritual 
phenomena.  This  I  soon  found  to  have  been  the  gen- 
eral experience  of  our  new  associates  in  England.  All 
their  magical  formulae  were  subordinate  in  use  to  the 
one  grand  desideratum  of  a  good  natural  magician. 
Professor  von  Marx  once  questioned,  in  his  cold,  sar- 
castic way,  What  was  the  use  of  magical  ceremonies  at 
all,  so  long  as  they  could  not  effect  any  results  without 
the  required  medium?  and  having  secured  this  great 
desideratum,  would  not  his  or  her  presence  render  the 


GHOST  LAND.  95 

rites  unnecessary?  Our  friends  generally  denied  this 
position,  however,  alleging  that  magical  rites  were  the 
means  of  culturing  and  unfolding  spiritual  gifts;  also 
that  they  were  essential  to  the  orderly  intercourse  with 
spirits,  and  enabled  mortals  to  command  them  instead 
of  being  commanded  by  them. 

In  years  of  experience  subsequent  to  the  period  of 
my  first  visit  to  England,  I  have  found  abundant  reason 
to  accept  opinions  composed  of  both  sides  of  this  ques- 
tion. The  results  of  my  experiments  may  some  day  be 
given  to  the  world  in  a  more  practical  form  than  these 
autobiographical  sketches.* 

To  those  unacquainted  with  the  methods  of  invoca- 
tion enjoined  upon  the  high  priest  or  chief  magian 
of  these  rites,  the  following  examples  may  not  be  unin- 
teresting. After  all  the  ceremonies  of  "purification," 
"ablution,"  and  "fumigation"  had  been  duly  complied 
with,  the  chief  magian  proceeded  to  summon  the  spirit 
of  the  day,  week,  and  season,  after  this  fashion:  — 

"  I  conjure  and  confirm  upon  you,  strong,  potent,  and 
holy  angels,  in  the  name  of  the  most  dreadful  ADO^AI, 
the  God  of  Israel,  and  by  the  name  of  all  the  angels  serv- 
ing in  the  second  host  before  TETRA,  that  great,  strong, 
and  powerful  angel,  and  by  the  name  of  his  star,  and 
by  the  name  of  the  seal,  which  is  sealed  by  God  most 
mighty  and  honorable,  and  by  all  things  before  spoken. 
I  conjure  upon  thee,  Raphael,  the  great  angel  who  art 
ruler  of  the  fourth  day,  that  for  me  thou  wilt  labor 
and  fulfil  all  my  petitions  according  to  my  will  and 
desire  in  my  cause  and  business. f" 

*  The  author  has  more  than  redeemed  this  promise  in  the  publication 
of  his  magnificent  work, ';  Art  Magic."  — ED.  GHOST  LAND. 

fFor  a  full  and  complete  "  Arbatel  of  Magic,"  together  with  the 
names  of  the  angels  of  the  various  days  and  seasons,  the  fumigations 
proper  to  each,  the  modes  of  preparing  the  circle,  robes,  and  book  of 


96  GHOST  LAND. 

Invocations  to  Elementary  spirits  were  given  in  a  still 
more  stringent  and  compulsory  tone.  The  following 
will  serve  as  a  specimen  thereof :  — 

"  Therefore,  come  ye !  come  ye,  Serapiel,  spirit  of  the 
air,  ruling  on  the  fourth  day !  Angel  of  the  southwest 
wind,  come  ye,  come  ye !  Adonai  commandeth.  Sadai 
commandeth, — the  most  high  and  dreadful  king  of  kings, 
whose  power  no  creature  is  able  to  resist.  Sadai  be 
unto  you  most  dreadful,  unless  ye  obey  and  forthwith 
appear  before  this  circle;  and  let  miserable  ruin  and 
fire  unquenchable  remain  with  ye,  unless  ye  forthwith 
obey.  Therefore,  come  ye !  in  the  awful  name  TETE A- 
GRAMMATO:^.  Why  tarriest  thou?  Hasten!  Hasten! 
Hasten !  Adonai,  the  most  high,  Sadai,  king  of  kings 
commands !  "  etc.  etc. 

These  words,  lofty  and  sounding  as  they  seem,  can 
convey  only  the  faintest  idea  of  the  fiery  zeal  and 
urgent  ecstacy  with  which  the  Invocants  were  accus- 
tomed to  pronounce  them. 

The  more  they  could  stimulate  themselves  up  to  the 
pitch  of  fervent  ecstacy,  the  more  potential  became 
the  results.  On  many  occasions,  where  the  officiating 
magian  was  in  deep,  tremendous  earnest,  and  the  assist- 
ants partook  of  his  fervent  zeal,  I  have  seen  the  whole 
assemblage  sink  on  their  knees,  and  break  forth  into 
uncontrollable  sobs,  cries,  appeals  to  Heaven,  spirits, 
angels,  and  elementaries.  I  have  felt  the  walls  shake, 
the  house  tremble;  beheld  the  floor  riven  apart;  fiery 
tongues  flash  swiftly  through  the  apartment,  and  forms 
of  elemental  spirits  become  visible  to  all.  Hands  have 
been  seized;  many  amongst  us  have  been  thrown  vio- 

spirits,  also  for  all  the  invocations  and  other  formulae  of  magical  art, 
consult  the  author's  elaborate  work  on  "  Art  Magic,"  and  the  Heptame- 
ron  of  Peter  d'Abano,  page  360,  "Art  Magic."  — ED.  GHOST  LAND. 


; 


GHOST  LAND.  97 

lently  on  the  ground,  lifted  up  to  the  roof,  and  held 
suspended  in  the  air.  The  entire  scene  has  been  one 
of  the  most  tremendous  and  occult  character,  and 
though  the  experience  of  modern  investigators  with 
strong  "physical  force  mediums  "  may  supply  abundant 
parallels  of  such  scenes,  and  furnish  what  they  deem 
to  be  a  complete  explanation  'of  its  marvels,  there  can 
be  no  question  that  the  strong  mental  efflatus  evolved 
by  the  scene,  time,  and  modes  of  invocation  combined 
to  supply  the  powerful  pabulum  by  which  invisible  beings 
effected  such  demonstrations  of  their  presence. 

These  magical  circles  were  always  effective  in  the 
production  of  strong  responsive  action  from  the  spirit 
world  in  proportion  to  the  zeal,  energy,  and  ecstatic  fer- 
vor of  the  invocants ;  in  short,  it  was  the  history  of  the 
Jewish  Pentecost  re-enacted  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

It  was  the  harmonious  accord  of  the  assemblage,  the 
Pentecostal  spirit  in  which  they  met,  that  supplied  the 
invisible  world  with  the  force  which  exhibited  itself  in 
tongues  of  fire  and  a  "  mighty  rushing  wind."  When 
our  magians  were  most  terribly  in  earnest,  their  spiritual 
respondents  were  most  obedient  and  potential. 

No  doubt  the  specialty  of  certain  human  organisms 
present,  always  afforded  the  force  necessary  for  spirits 
to  work  with.  It  is  possible  that  our  own  spirits,  too, 
stimulated  to  ecstacy  by  the  efflatus  of  our  earnest  pur- 
pose, operated  upon  the  inanimate  objects  around  us,  and 
served  as  instruments  for  the  achievement  of  marvellous 
phenomena.  I  know  that  Professor  von  Marx  and  myself 
were  never  present  at  magical  seances  without  obtaining 
results  of  a  spiritualistic  character.  I  believe  we  both 
furnished  the  pabulum  by  which  spirits  could  come  into 
contact  with  matter;  but  whether  the  wonderful  phenom- 
ena we  witnessed  were  the  result  of  direct  foreign  inter- 


98  GHOST  LAND. 

vention  or  the  exercise  of  our  own  spiritual  faculties 
even  Professor  von  Marx  himself  could  not  always 
determine. 

I  know  it  would  be  proper  in  this  place  to  anticipate 
the  questions  of  some  sincere  spiritists  concerning  the 
character  of  the  beings  who  were  seen  at  those  magi- 
cal circles,  and  declare  whether  they  were  not,  as  most 
believers  in  spiritism  would  expect  they  would  be,  the 
apparitions  of  our  deceased  friends.  On  this  point  I 
answer  emphatically  in  the  negative,  nay,  more,  I  hardly 
remember  at  this  period  of  my  researches  —  certainly 
not  in  these  invocatory  seances  —  ever  to  have  seen 
human  spirits  as  the  respondents  in  acts  of  magic. 
Human  spirits  were  not  summoned.  Those  magians 
did  not  practise  that  phase  of  the  art  they  termed  necro- 
mancy, to  wit,  communion  with  the  spirits  of  the  dead. 
Many  of  our  English  associates  professed  an  unconquer- 
able aversion  to  this  idea,  and  Professor  von  Marx  always 
discountenanced  in  me  the  belief  that  the  spirits  of  the 
dead  could  subsist  much  longer  than  the  period  neces- 
sary to  accomplish  the  disintegration  of  the  body.  No, 
we  summoned  the  spirits  of  the  elements,  and  they 
responded  to  us  in  all  the  varied  forms  in  which  these 
beings  exist.*  Sometimes  we  communed  with  bright 
planetary  spirits;  but  those  radiant  beings  were  rarely 
visible  to  the  whole  circle;  in  fact,  were  seldom  seen 
except  by  the  clairvoyants  and  somnambulists,  of  whom 
there  were  several  belonging  to  these  circles  besides 
myself. 

If  7my  readers  would  inquire  what  beneficial  results, 
temporal  or  spiritual,  man  could  derive  from  these 
weird  communings,  I  frankly  admit  I  am  unable  to 

*  See  "  Art  Magic  "  on  Elementary  Spirits,  Sect.  7,  p.  102.  —ED.  GHOST 
LAND. 


GHOST  LAND.  99 

answer.  Beyond  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  or  the 
attainment  of  power  in  some  special  direction,  I  do  not 
myself  realize  any  benefit  from  the  achievement  of  in- 
tercourse with  elementary  spirits.  Those  beings  ap- 
peared to  me  to  be  often  malevolent  and  incapable  of 
attaining  to  the  perception  of  good.  They  seemed  to 
look  up  to  man  as  a  god  to  be  feared,  propitiated,  and 
served;  but  few  of  their  species  realized  the  good, 
truth,  and  beauty  which  belongs  to  pure  reason  and 
high  exaltation  of  soul ;  hence  they  naturally  resorted  to 
mischief,  torment,  and  deceit,  as  their  protection  against 
the  superior  powers  of  man,  and  except  in  a  few  in- 
stances of  communion  with  the  higher  realms  of  "nature 
spirits,"  I  never  knew  good,  happiness,  peace  of  mind, 
or  virtuous  inspiration  result  from  these  intercommun- 
ings.  If  to  know  the  universe  of  being,  and  the  nature 
and  immensity  of  the  existences  that  people  it,  be  the 
object  sought,  the  search  is  legitimate  to  the  philoso- 
pher; but  efforts  to  attain  these  communings  stimulated 
by  mere  curiosity,  a  desire  to  obtain  wealth,  discover 
hidden  treasures,  gain  power  over  the  elements,  and 
subdue  enemies,  although  often  measurably  success- 
ful, invariably  bring  unrest,  disappointment,  and  ulti- 
mate evil  to  the  seeker,  and  I  would  earnestly  warn 
mankind  against  the  attempt,  stimulated,  as  before  sug- 
gested, by  purely  selfish  motives. 

I  have  had  many  pleasant  interviews  with  the  harm- 
less and  innocent  spirits  of  the  mines,  and  those  who 
preside  over  and  correspond  to  the  air,  fire,  and  at- 
mosphere. Although  rarely  identified  by  mortals,  and 
shy  of  holding  direct  communication  with  them,  these 
classes  of  elementaries  are  still  noble  and  exalted  in 
their  natures,  constantly  engaged  in  directing  and  in- 
spiring students  in  the  natural  sciences,  indeed  they  are 


100  GHOST  LAND. 

\ 

so  intimately  related  to  human  destiny  that  we  breathe 
in  their  influence  with  every  noble  thought,  and  attract 
them,  as  sparks  of  intellectual  fire,  with  every  aspiration 
we  cherish  for  scientific  knowledge. 

During  our  residence  in  London  we  were  constant 
attendants  and  welcome  visitors  at  a  circle  which  for 
distinction  I  shall  name  the  Orphic  Circle.  Its  pres- 
ident and  w  Grand  Master "  was  a  noble  gentleman 
whom  I  shall  call  Lord  Vivian. 

His  methods  were  inspired  by  far  loftier  aims  and 
regulated  by  much  more  pious  aspirations  than  those  of 
most  other  English  magians.  The  seers,  of  whom  Lord 
Vivian's  society  numbered  several,  conducted  their  ex- 
periments through  the  mirror  and  crystal,  and  the  young 
ladies  especially  who  attended  these  interesting  seances, 
were  particularly  happy  in  attracting  pure  and  noble 
planetary  spirits  in  response  to  their  call.  On  one  oc- 
casion I  attended  a  seance  in  London,  when  a  mirror 
was  to  be  presented  to  a  fair  young  girl,  whose  acquaint- 
ance I  made  about  twenty  years  before  the  date  of  my 
present  writing. 

The  seance  of  which  I  am  about  to  speak  took  place 
several  years  later  than  the  period  at  which  I  first  visited 
London,  and  I  am  anticipating  the  events  of  that  time 
in  referring  to  it;  but  as  I  may  not  have  an  opportunity 
of  mentioning  it  again,  and  the  scene  in  question  has 
exercised  a  most  potential  influence  upon  all  the  suc- 
ceeding years  of  my  life,  I  shall  plead  guilty  to  the 
anachronism  of  recording  its  details  in  this  place. 

The  party  in  question  consisted  of  the  master  of  the 
house,  three  gentlemen,  distinguished  occultists  of  the 
country,  the  young  lady  before  referred  to,  and  her 
chaperone. 

The  exercises  commenced  with  a  deep  and  heartfelt 


GHOST  LAND.  101 

invocation,  the  performance  of  some  sweet  part-songs, 
and  the  trance  address  of  the  fair  somnambulist.  This 
beautiful  creature,  like  a  Pythoness  of  old,  rapt  in 
ecstacy  and  filled  with  the  divine  efflatus,  uttered  one 
of  the  most  sublime  invocations  for  spiritual  light,  wis- 
dom, and  guidance  to  the  source  of  all  light  and  knowl- 
edge, I  have  ever  listened  to.  How  cold,  lifeless,  and 
insincere  do  the  parrot-like  prayers  of  hireling  priests 
sound  compared  to  the  burning  appeals  and  eloquent 
beseechings  of  these  modern  Pythia!  If  there  was 
an  angel  in  the  high  empyrean  of  the  unknown 
heavens,  he  must  have  heard  and  answered  the  plead- 
ings of  this  inspired  girl.  After  the  trance  invocation 
our  host,  who  was  an  adept  of  the  modern  magical 
school,  unveiled  the  newly-made  virgin  mirror,  and 
consecrated  it  in  due  form  to  AZRAEL,  "the  angel  of 
life  and  death,"  whom  the  fair  seeress  had  chosen  as 
the  guardian  of  her  mirror.  As  its  shining  surface 
was  disclosed  to  view,  the  lady,  standing  before  it  in  a 
lofty  attitude  of  rapt  ecstacy,  pronounced  these  words: 
"  To  Azrael,  the  shrouded  angel,  and  his  twin  ministers 
of  life  and  death,  and  to  thee,  O  Father  of  spirits  and 
Kuler  of  all  life  and  being!  I  do  hereby  dedicate  the 
service  and  consecrate  the  use  of  this  mirror."  When 
the  spirit  whom  this  invocation  summoned,  first  ap- 
peared in  the  mirror,  the  seeress  started,  turned  pale, 
and  with  an  aspect  of  terror  and  aversion  beckoned  me 
to  come  and  inspect  the  vision  with  her.  What  I  then 
saw  was  as  great  a  surprise  to  me  as  to  the  lady.  There, 
distinctly  outlined  on,  rather  than  in,  the  mirror,  was 
the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  being  whom  for  years  I 
had  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  the  presentation  of 
my  evil  genius.  It  was  a  woman  with  a  frightful 
aspect,  full  of  malignity,  rage,  and  ferocity.  She  wore 


102  GHOST  LAND. 

a  head-dress  worthy  of  a  Medusa.  Her  large,  staring 
eyes  glared  hideously  at  the  beholder;  and  according 
to  the  expression  those  malign  features  assumed,  so  had 
I  been  accustomed  to  expect  the  approach  of  the  mis- 
fortunes of  which  this  spectre  was  the  invariable  fore- 
runner. When  sickness  was  at  hand,  the  hag  would 
appear  to  me  mocking  and  mowing  like  a  wailing  idiot; 
on  the  approach  of  discord,  slander,  or  enmity,  she 
would  assume  a  grimace  impossible  to  describe,  but 
still  graphically  significant  to  a  seer.  Death,  this  hid- 
eous ghoul  portended  by  opening  wide  her  cavernous 
jaws  and  presenting  within  them  a  miniature  resem- 
blance of  some  victim  whom  she  affected  to  devour. 
This  ghastly  image  always  appeared  to  me  objective, 
life-like,  and  real.  I  have  faced  it  in  the  street,  in  my 
chamber,  in  the  midst  of  the  gayest  assemblages,  in 
royal  salons,  and  quiet  solitudes. 

Its  appearance  was  an  unfailing  prophecy  in  the  direc- 
tions I  have  intimated,  and  I  had  become  so  accustomed 
to  behold  it  that  it  created  in  me  neither  surprise  nor 
alarm  until  I  saw  it  appear  as  one  of  the  legionaries  of 
"  Azrael,  the  angel  of  life  and  death,"  in  my  fair  friend's 
mirror.  I  endeavored  to  calm  her  mind  by  explaining 
to  her  that  it  was  but  an  image,  representative  of  the 
action  of  mortal  death,  from  which  the  angel  Azrael  sent 
shadows,  some  ghastly  in  their  ugliness,  others  radiant 
with  the  promises  of  the  better  life  to  come.  "Whilst  I 
spoke  the  mocking  w  image, "  as  I  had  termed  it,  moved, 
smiled,  or  rather  grinned,  chattered  at  us,  and  shook  her 
lean,  skinny  arms  as  if  to  assure  us  it  was  no  image  but 
a  thing  of  life,  one  too  which  heard  and  understood  my 
attempts  to  soothe  my  companion.  "It  is  an  elemen- 
tary," she  said,  "and  whilst  it  signifies  all  you  say,  it  is 
still  an  actual  existence,  not  a  mere  subjective  image." 


GHOST  LAND.  103 

Once  more  I  pause  in  my  narrative  to  state  that  the 
seeress  here  alluded  to  has,  since  that  time,  been  visited 
for  a  number  of  years  —  indeed,  up  to  the  present  time 
—  by  the  same  apparition,  in  the  same  manner  as  I  have 
described  above,  and  with  the  same  prophetic  intimations. 
Banished  almost  instantly  from  the  mirror  by  my  will,  I 
inquired  what  my  friend  would  now  wish  to  behold,  as 
I  doubted  not  the  angel  of  the  mirror  would  be  ready  to 
yield  her  a  more  agreeable  and  instructive  vision.  w  Let 
me  see  whatever  the  wise  and  good  guardian  is  pleased 
to  display,"  she  replied;  when,  after  due  invocation, 
soliciting  Azrael  to  show  us  whatsoever  would  be 
instructive  and  prophetic,  we  both  simultaneously  beheld 
the  following  singular  picture :  Two  forms  arose  in  the 
mirror  which  strongly  suggested  the  idea  of  the  genii  of 
night  and  day.  They  were  apparently  female  forms, 
attired  in  flowing  robes  of  black  and  white.  Their  long 
tresses  were  also  the  one  of  raven,  the  other  of  golden 
hue.  Their  faces  were  exquisitely  beautiful,  but  sad, 
silent,  and  full  of  wonderfully  pleading  eloquence.  The 
dark  eyes  of  the  one  and  the  lustrous  blue  of  the  other 
were  fixed  upon  us  with  a  depth  of  sadness,  pity,  and 
sorrow  which  conveyed  a  whole  history  of  prophetic 
meaning. 

Between  these  figures  was  displayed  an  open  book, 
upon  the  pages  of  which  both  the  seeress  and  myself 
read  two  words.  The  lady  informed  me  she  had  seen 
these  spirits  before,  had  been  told  that  they  were  plane- 
tary spirits,  the  guardians  of  a  mirror  belonging  to  a 
friend  whom  she  occasionally  visited,  and  that  the  book 
which  they  thus  presented  was  one  which  for  ages  they 
had  been  endeavoring  to  inspire  some  earthly  scribe  to 
write.  She  added,  "  These  spirits  seemed,  when  first 
I  saw  them  at  my  friend  Mr.  H.'s,  to  beseech  me  to 


104  GHOST  LAND. 

write  that  book;  but  it  now  appears  as  if  they  had 
transferred  their  plea  to  you,  and  I  cannot  but  think  the 
vision  is  significant  of  the  prophecy  that  you  are  des- 
tined to  write  it."  "If  so  then,"  I  replied,  "the  first 
image  is  not  meaningless,  for  the  spirit  of  malignity 
as  surely  prophesies  slander  and  malice  in  connection 
with  what  is  to  follow,  as  the  beautiful  legionaries  of 
the  stars  prophesy  that  either  you  or  I,  or  perhaps  both, 
will  become  their  scribe." 

I  give  this  example  chiefly  to  illustrate  the  character 
of  the  intelligence  which  comes  through  the  mirror  and 
crystal  in  seances  devoted  to  their  exhibition.  What- 
ever is  thus  presented  is  designed  apparently  by  the 
guardian  spirits  of  the  mirror  or  crystal,  to  whom  these 
objects  are  dedicated,  to  convey  instruction,  advice, 
warning,  or  prophecy.  Some  of  the  noblest  communica- 
tions I  have  ever  received  have  been  given  by  plane- 
tary spirits  impressed  upon  the  surface  of  the  mirror, 
and  some  of  the  most  startling  and  significant  events  of 
my  life  have  been  prophesied  of  by  images,  scenes,  and 
representations  rising  up  in  the  magnetic  depths  of  a 
consecrated  crystal.  I  do  not  claim  that  either  of  these 
instruments  are  essential  to  the  unfoldment  or  exercise 
of  clairvoyance;  but  where  the  power  already  exists, 
mirrors,  crystals,  a  glass  of  water,  or  any  polished, 
smooth,  or  untarnished  surface  seems  available  as  a 
tablet  for  the  use  of  the  invisible  artist,  and  a  means  of 
representation  for  scenic  effects  by  attendant  spirits. 

Keturning  to  the  period  when  I  first  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  English  magians,  I  recall  a  special  seance 
wherein  I  was  myself  the  clairvoyant.  Professor  von 
Marx  had  as  usual  magnetized  me  by  a  single  wave  of 
his  hand,  and  enjoined  me  to  describe  to  those  present 
various  visionary  scenes  in  which  they  were  interested. 


GHOST  LAND.  105 

In  the  course  of  the  seance  I  suddenly  perceived  the 
loathsome  image  I  have  just  alluded  to,  —  "the  hag,"  as 
I  was  accustomed  to  call  her,  —  crouching  down  close 
beside  my  beloved  master,  extending  a  long,  lean,  skinny 
arm,  as  if  to  clutch  him,  and  gazing  upon  him  with  those 
distended  jaws  which  to  my  shuddering  apprehension 
prophesied  the  approach  of  death.  My  master  at  that 
moment  seemed  to  be  lost  in  profound  abstraction. 
"With  folded  arms  he  sat  looking  vacantly  into  the  dim 
distance,  his  thoughts  evidently  centred  on  scenes  far 
remote  from  his  present  surroundings.  It  was  in  this 
moment  of  abstraction,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  intense 
and  concentrated  influence  he  was  accustomed  to  throw 
around  me,  that  I  seemed  to  awake  as  with  a  sudden 
start  from  dreaming  to  reality,  and  piercing  the  mist  of 
self-woven  mystery  in  which  he  chose  to  enshroud  him- 
self and  hide  the  realities  of  his  being  from  me,  I  per- 
ceived a  truth  which  he  had  not  before  permitted  to  dawn 
on  my  consciousness.  He  was  unhappy,  and  his  appear- 
ance betokened  to  my  newly-opened  vision  the  signs  of 
physical  decay  and  the  fever  of  deep  unrest.  The  pang 
of  fear  and  anguish  which  thrilled  through  my  frame 
touched  his.  He  recovered  from  his  state  of  abstraction 
with  a  slight  shiver,  turned  an  anxious,  inquisitive  glance 
upon  me,  rose,  laid  his  hand  lovingly  on  my  shoulder, 
and  instantly  caused  the  clouds  of  reserve  once  more  to 
roll  down  between  us.  The  spectre  vanished.  Profes- 
sor von  Marx  resumed  his  seat,  carelessly  waved  his 
hand  to  recall  me  from  the  magnetic  state,  remarking, 
"  Enough,  my  Louis ;  you  are  weary."  To  the  external 
eye  all  was  as  calm  and  serene  as  ever,  and  our  relations 
to  each  other  had  not  in  the  least  degree  altered;  inte- 
riorly, however,  I  had  received  a  revelation  which  not 
even  the  will  of  this  all-powerful  controller  could  oblit- 


106  GHOST  LAND. 

erate,  and  with  this  cherished  independent  secret  stored 
away  in  my  soul,  arose  the  determination  to  effect  a 
change  in  our  circumstances.  Under  the  pretence  that 
the  air  of  the  metropolis  affected  me  unfavorably,  I  in- 
duced my  beloved  friend  to  set  out  with  me  on  a  tour 
through  North  Britain,  purposing  amidst  the  breezy  hills 
and  in  the  pure  atmosphere  of  Scotland  and  Wales,  to 
obtain  that  rest  and  renovation  for  him  which  he  fondly 
deemed  I  needed  for  myself. 

My  purpose  is  not  to  invite  my  readers  to  a  perusal 
of  my  personal  adventures,  but  to  a  retrospect  of  such 
scenes  alone  as  may  tend  to  throw  light  or  bring  evi- 
dence to  bear  upon  the  mysteries  of  spiritual  existence. 

When  I  write  of  myself  it  will  only  be  in  illustration 
of  that  realm  of  mind  whose  varying  emotions  should 
become  the  field  of  more  profound  exploration  and  anal- 
ysis than  has  yet  been  bestowed  upon  that  all-important 
subject.  I  pass  by  then,  our  wanderings  through  many 
memorable  scenes,  and  only  pause  to  record  one  illustra- 
tion of  spiritual  interposition,  in  connection  with  events 
which  are  still  well  remembered  at  the  place  where  they 
occurred.  Professor  von  Marx's  reputation  as  a  man  of 
letters,  and  the  report  that  he  was  accompanied  by  one 
of  the  seers  of  the  renowned  "  Berlin  Brotherhood,"  pro- 
cured us  far  more  hospitable  attention  in  our  quiet  ram- 
bles than  we  desired  to  attract.  On  one  occasion  we 
were  so  earnestly  entreated  to  become  the  guests  of  a 
nobleman  whose  estate  lay  in  the  heart  of  the  wild  Tro- 
sachs,  that  we  felt  unable,  without  positive  discourtesy, 
to  resist  his  urgent  invitation  that  we  would  remain  with 
him  for  a  few  days. 

We  arrived  at  our  place  of  destination  early  in  the 
forenoon,  and  after  partaking  of  a  lunch  characterized 
by  all  that  profuse  hospitality  for  which  the  "kindly 


GHOST  LAND.  107 

Scot "  is  so  justly  celebrated,  our  host  proposed  that  we 
should  accompany  him  and  one  or  two  of  his  friends  on 
a  ride  through  some  of  the  most  romantic  points  of  the 
neighborhood.  In  this  excursion  we  visited  many  inter- 
esting places,  frequently  leaving  our  horses  in  charge  of 
the  grooms,  whilst  we  explored  on  foot  mountain-passes 
whose  savage  wildness  might  never  have  been  disturbed 
by  the  invading  presence  of  man. 

It  seemed  almost  impossible  for  me  to  wander  amidst 
these  lovely  glens,  vales,  and  woods,  climb  mountains  of 
rarest  grandeur,  and  gaze  over  outstretched  panoramas 
of  gorgeous  loveliness,  without  yielding  to  the  spiritual 
efflatus  which  Nature  in  her  profuse  displays  of  scenic 
beauty  ever  inspires.  Every  foot  of  ground,  too,  was  his- 
torical. Every  wooded  height  was  crowned  with  a  castle 
or  old  manorial  building,  memorable  as  the  residence  of 
kings  or  princes,  heroes  or  statesmen.  We  gazed  upon 
gloomy  fortresses  which  had  once  held  captive  the  fairest 
and  noblest  of  Scotland's  peers  and  princes.  Every  scene 
was  redolent  of  wild  and  thrilling  memories.  We  passed 
through  deep  glens,  or  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  moun- 
tain defiles,  where  the  best  blood  of  the  land  had  drenched 
the  ground,  and  lingered  in  many  a  fairy  nook,  imprinted 
with  tragic  legends  of  violence  and  wrong.  Every  tow- 
ering crag  or  peaceful  glen,  every  deep  defile  or  shady 
grove,  was  stamped  with  thrilling  memories.  To  one  who 
like  me,  lived  on  the  borders  of  the  unseen  world,  and 
whose  clairvoyant  sight  revealed  unbidden,  a  thousand 
pictures  of  interior  life  veiled  to  the  outer  eye,  this  land 
of  mighty  deeds  and  romantic  associations  opened  up  a 
page  of  wondrous  revelation. 

Oftentimes  when  solitude  and  silence  brooded  over 
the  glowing  landscape  to  the  eyes  of  my  companions, 
to  me  the  air  was  thick  with  visions.  I  beheld  flying 


108  GHOST  LAND. 

armies,  dying  heroes,  captive  princes,  persecuted  mar- 
tyrs, and  all  the  weird  phantasmagoria  of  life  in  its 
stormiest  and  most  unresting  moods.  And  these  vis- 
ions must  not  be  classed  as  the  result  of  a  mere  over- 
heated imagination  or  creative  fancy.  The  spectral 
forms  of  the  long  ago  are  indelibly  fixed  in  the  "  astral 
light,"  which  is  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  the  uni- 
verse; and  what  seer  can  pass  amidst  those  scenes 
where  these  thronging  phantoms  most  abound,  with- 
out perceiving,  through  the  rifts  and  rents  of  matter, 
the  myriads  of  forms  which  hang  on  the  gallery-walls 
in  an  imperishable  world  of  spiritual  entities?  ISToth- 
ing  that  ever  has  been  is  lost  to  the  vision  of  the 
seer;  nothing  that  now  is,  can  be  hidden  from  his 
piercing  gaze;  nothing  that  shall  be  is  wholly  veiled 
from  his  prophetic  glances.  Involuntarily,  though  per- 
haps shudderingly,  he  finds  his  spiritual  eyes  are  open, 
and  he  is  compelled  to  gaze  upon  the  innermost  of  life's 
awful  mystery  whether  he  will  or  no.  N"o  hand,  not 
even  that  of  his  own  tired  spirit,  can  draw  the  curtain 
between  his  vision  and  that  of  the  solemn  scenes 
inscribed  by  the  actors  in  life's  wild  drama  upon  the 
indestructible  page  of  the  astral  light.  Nature  in 
her  external  loveliness  afforded  me  but  half-revealed 
glimpses  of  her  meaning  in  each  scene  I  looked  upon. 
It  was  the  array  of  phantom  images  that  came  trooping 
up  before  my  soul's  eyes,  filling  each  spot  with  the 
living,  dying,  dead;  with  fierce  battle-scenes,  romances, 
intrigues;  with  all  the  stirring  events,  in  short,  which 
make  up  the  wild  legend  of  Scottish  history,  that  I 
beheld,  loading  my  spirit  with  the  fatal  burden  of 
involuntary  seership,-  filling  my  heart  with  anguish  for 
the  woes  of  poor  humanity,  and  isolating  me  alike  from 
human  sympathy  and  human  companionship. 


GHOST  LAND.  109 

Lost  as  I  was  in  the  absorption  of  this  fatal  gift  of 
second  sight,  I  could  rarely  contribute  much  to  the  en- 
tertainment of  my  companions.  Professor  von  Marx 
was  scarcely  more  sociable,  for  he  was  divided  in  his 
wish  to  gratify  our  host  and  his  friends  with  his  fluent 
strain  of  conversation,  and  his  anxiety  to  watch  the 
waves  of  thought  which  rolled  in  upon  my  soul,  the 
full  detail's  of  which  he  could  master  without  the  inter- 
change of  a  single  word  between  us,  when  he  willed  to 
do  so.  Meantime  there  was  a  markedly  restless  manner 
in  our  host  and  his  friends,  which  could  not  escape  the 
keen  perception  of  the  professor.  They  seemed  to 
fence  round  some  subject,  which  they  were  equally 
desirous  yet  unwilling  to  introduce.  At  length  they 
asked  abruptly  what  Professor  von  Marx  thought  of 
the  nature  of  obsession, —  whether  he  had  ever  had  any 
experience  in  that  direction;  and  if,  as  he  openly  taught, 
the  obsessing  power  did  not  proceed  from  the  undevel- 
oped spirits  of  human  beings,  how  he  would  account 
for  the  strictly  human  tendencies  (evil  though  they 
might  be)  manifested  in  the  conduct  of  the  obsessed. 
Professor  von  Marx  replied  that  he  believed,  though  he 
could  not  prove  the  fact,  that  the  obsessing  power  was 
to  be  traced  to  the  elementaries.  He  claimed  that 
these  beings  exist  on  every  grade  of  the  ladder  which 
reaches  from  the  lowest  depths  of  inorganic  matter  to 
the  highest  stages  of  organized  being;  that  many  of 
the  kingdoms  of  elemental  existence  were  near  enough 
to  man  to  share  his  thoughts  and  inspire  him  with  their 
own  ideas.  Meantime,  he  argued,  in  many  notable  cases 
of  obsession,  familiar  enough  to  those  who  have  studied 
the  subject,  a  large  proportion  of  the  control  seemed  to 
influence  its  unfortunate  victims  to  the  commission  of 
acts  strangely  in  accordance  with  animal  natures. 


110  GHOST  LAND. 

He  cited  a  number  of  cases  in  which  the  obsessed  ex- 
hibited the  strongest  tendencies  to  bark,  whine,  cry,  and 
whistle,  leap,  crawl,  climb,  roll  their  bodies  up  into  the 
distorted  resemblances  of  animals ;  in  fact,  to  imitate  by 
every  possible  method  the  habits  of  animals  rather  than 
human  beings.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  discussion, 
and  just  as  we  had  reached  a  romantic  defile  which 
wound  its  way  partly  through  the  mountains  and  occa- 
sionally opened  up  on  the  shores  of  an  enchanting  lake, 
that  we  all  began  to  observe  the  unusual  agitation  and 
restlessness  of  our  horses.  They  were  rugged  High- 
land steeds,  strong,  docile,  yet  sufficiently  spirited  to 
bear  us  safely  over  the  most  toilsome  mountain  roads. 
The  pass  we  had  now  gained  was  intersected  by  numer- 
ous streams,  which  in  many  places  swelled  to  torrents, 
and  pouring  over  vast  masses  of  piled-up  rocks,  formed 
cascades  of  exquisite  beauty.  Our  horses  had  passed 
through  many  such  scenes  before  in  that  very  day's 
excursion;  they  had  forded  several  streams,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  foam  and  roar  of  the  cascades  had 
never  before  exhibited  the  least  signs  of  terror.  Now 
their  obvious  reluctance  to  proceed  was  marked  and 
obstinate.  The  evening  was  fast  deepening  around  us ; 
already  we  were  beginning  to  view  the  scene  through 
the  haze  of  what  the  Scotch  poetically  term  the  "gloam- 
ing," and  our  host  informed  us  of  his  intention  to 
shorten  our  path  by  passing  through  a  certain  district 
which  he  had  previously  fixed  upon  as  the  scene  of  our 
next  day's  excursion.  A  nest  of  villages,  through  which 
we  were  to  make  our  way,  lay  outstretched  on  the  dis- 
tant plain,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  we  were  crossing, 
and  presented  a  most  inviting  picture  of  rural  peace 
and  tranquillity.  It  was  just  as  these  village  houses 
came  into  view,  and  whilst  we  were  passing  through 


GHOST  LAND.  Ill 

the  last  portion  of  a  very  rugged  defile,  that  my  horse, 
which  was  somewhat  in  advance  of  the  rest,  became 
actually  unmanageable,  rearing,  snorting,  and  plunging 
with  all  the  signs  of  frantic  terror. 

From  early  childhood  I  was  accustomed  to  the  man- 
agement of  a  horse,  and  had  been  taught  to  govern 
the  wildest  and  most  untrained  animals  of  Arabia. 
In  the  present  instance  however,  my  past  experiences 
were  utterly  unavailing.  Even  when  I  had  dis- 
mounted, and  strove  by  every  ordinary  method  to 
soothe  the  frightened  creature  into  tranquillity,  I  could 
scarcely  prevent  him  from  plunging  into  the  depths  of 
a  foaming  cataract  to  which  he  seemed  drawn  by  some 
irresistible  attraction.  Looking  curiously  around  to  dis- 
cover the  cause  of  this  unaccountable  action,  I  saw,  or 
fancied  I  saw,  amidst  the  vortex  of  foaming  waters 
towards  which  the  frantic  creature  was  impelled,  several 
dark  bodies  plunging  and  tossing,  in  the  semblance  of 
human  beings. 

Deeming  it  impossible  that  any  one,  however  hardy  a 
swimmer,  could  live  in  the  revel  of  those  wild  waters,  I 
stooped  down  to  examine  them  more  closely,  when  I  dis- 
tinctly saw  a  long  lean  arm  and  misshapen  skinny  hand 
stretched  out  towards  my  horse's  bridle  as  if  to  drag 
him  forward  into  the  cataract.  At  the  same  moment 
the  animal  gave  a  tremendous  backward  plunge,  and  as 
he  dragged  me  with  him  from  the  torrent,  it  seemed  as 
if  I  was  suddenly  losing  my  senses,  and  passing  into 
the  condition  of  deep  somnambulism.  Never  in  my  life 
did  I  experience  so  powerful  or  malignant  an  influence 
as  that  which  was  now  sinking  me  into  helpless  uncon- 
sciousness. 

The  more  dim  and  shadowy  the  outer  world  grew  to 
my  sense  of  sight,  the  more  real  and  horrible  became 


112  GHOST  LAND. 

the  objects  revealed  to  my  interior  senses.  The  air,  the 
earth,  the  waters,  appeared  to  be  thick  with  grotesque 
and  hideous  semblances  of  half  man,  half  beast.  Creep- 
ing, crawling,  flying,  and  leaping  things,  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  held  goblin  carnival  around  me.  The  outer 
world  was  receding,  and  I  passed  into  a  veritable  realm 
of  demons.  I  scarcely  dare  even  now  recall  the  full 
horrors  of  this  vision,  nor  should  I  have  attributed  to  it 
any  objective  reality  had  I  not  witnessed  tne  terror  of 
the  poop  horses,  and  connected  the  whole  scene  with 
subsequent  incidents.  I  was  aroused  from  this  palsy  of 
horror  by  the  voice  of  Professor  von  Marx,  whose  tones, 
though  modulated  almost  to  a  whisper,  so  as  to  reach  my 
ear  alone,  sounded  like  thunder,  as  he  murmured,  "Louis, 
Louis!  rouse  yourself,  or  you  will  let  the  demons  of 
hell  get  possession  of  you ! "  My  strength  and  compos- 
ure returned  with  the  touch  of  my  master's  powerful 
hand.  Even  my  poor  horse  owned  the  spell  of  his 
resistless  influence ;  for  I  found  it  standing,  with  droop- 
ing head,  and  sides  flecked  with  foam,  and  at  my  side ; 
and  though  trembling  violently,  it  was  no  longer  restive 
or  intractable.  c  You  have  forgotten  your  Eastern  train- 
ing, methinks,"  said  the  professor  half  reproachfully,  as 
I  looked  at  my  poor  steed.  "No  training  will  avail  here," 
I  replied  in  the  same  tone.  K  Through  this  accursed 
spot  I  will  not  attempt  to  lead  this  suffering  creature." 
There  was  no  time  for  further  discussion.  In  a  single 
instant  a  thick,  vaporous  mist  fell  upon  us,  enveloping 
us  in  its  damp,  slimy  folds  as  in  a  wet  garment.  It 
rolled,  surged,  and  filled  the  atmosphere  for  a  moment, 
just  as  I  have  seen  the  air  grow  instantaneously  thick 
and  almost  impenetrable  in  the  murky  folds  of  a  London 
fog;  but  before  we  could  comment  to  each  other  on  this 
remarkable  phenomenon,  the  mists  rose,  curled,  and  sep- 


GHOST  LAND  113 

arated  into  ten  thousand  fragments,  and  with  slight,  sharp, 
detonating  sounds,  exploded  into  the  well-known  appear- 
ances called  will-o'-the-wisps,  or  as  the  country  folk 
of  England  call  them,  «  Jack-o'-Lanterns."  Truth  to 
tell,  the  appearance  of  these  phosphorescent  lights  in  a 
place  where  no  marshy  ground  existed,  and  where,  as  our 
whole  party  affirmed,  they  had  never  been  seen  before, 
in  no  way  tended  to  reassure  us.  As  for  me,  I  saw 
around  these  glimmering  lights,  which  danced,  flitted, 
wheeled,  or  floated  by  hundreds  on  every  side  of  us,  the 
opaque  bodies  and  grotesque  outlines  of  the  elementaries, 
not  as  before  in  distinct  resemblances  of  animals  and  men, 
but  in  a  vague,  undefined  burr  around  each  shimmering 
flame,  which  was  situated,  as  my  shuddering  fancy  sug- 
gested, just  where  the  nervous  centres  of  their  strange 
life  might  be  supposed  to  inhere.  Sometimes  fierce, 
malignant  eyes  glared  at  me  through  the  fast-deep- 
ening gloom,  when  the  sudden  start  and  unmistakable 
terror  of  my  poor  horse,  which  I  continued  to  lead, 
proved  either  that  he  shared  with  me  the  goblin  sight, 
or  my  hand  communicated  a  sense  of  repulsion  to  the 
sensitive  animal.  Soon  after  leaving  the  village,  the 
phantom  lights  disappeared,  one  by  one,  and  we  reached 
our  home  without  further  interruption. 

That  night,  after  retiring  to  rest,  the  same  vague 
sense  of  terror  that  had  beset  me  in  the  glen  at  the 
moment  of  my  involuntary  entrancement  again  took 
possession  of  me,  and  again  seemed  to  threaten  a  mag- 
netic control  as  hateful  to  my  feelings  as  it  was  strange 
and  unusual.  I  felt  that  an  unknown  presence  filled 
my  apartment,  and  a  nameless  horror  threw  its  chilling 
influence  over  every  nerve.  I  had  frequently  visited 
the  realms  of  the  elementaries  at  the  command  of  the 
Berlin  Brotherhood  or  my  dear  master.  In  the  service 

8 


114  GHOST  LAND. 

of  these  adepts  I  had  penetrated,  clairvoyantly,  the 
interior  of  the  earth's  crust,  its  rocks,  caverns,  mines, 
oceans,  rivers,  forests,  and  atmospheres.  My  all-poten- 
tial master  had  taught  me  how  to  summon  and  control 
elementary  existences,  as  well  as  to  penetrate  the  realms 
they  inhabited.  In  all  departments  of  Nature,  my  wan- 
dering spirit  had  explored,  and  communed  with  the 
countless  spheres  of  graduated  being  that  peopled  the 
interior  of  Nature's  wonderful  and  teeming  labora- 
tories. Whilst  I  was  sustained  by  the  potency  of 
Professor  von  Marx's  magnetism,  and  maintained  my 
relations  of  a  superior  being  towards  these  elementaries, 
they  could  neither  control  nor  distress  me ;  but  now,  by 
the  effect  of  some  strong  magnetic  influence,  of  which 
I  had  not  been  forewarned,  the  mysterious  dwellers  of 
the  innermost  had  overpowered  and  almost  mastered 
me.  Arrayed  against  me,  in  unconquerable  force, 
these  malignant  beings  had  now  subdued  me  with  a 
facility  as  new  as  strange  in  my  experience.  Even  the 
fear  with  which  they  oppressed  me  I  felt  to  be  danger- 
ous; and  conscious  that  a  mustering  of  these  evil  genii 
was  even  now  pervading  the  suffocating  air  of  my 
apartment,  I  arose  hastily,  dressed  myself,  and  deter- 
mined to  seek  Professor  von  Marx's  apartment. 

Just  as  I  had  gained  the  door  which  led  into  the  cor- 
ridor I  was  intercepted  by  a  gigantic  form,  which  seemed 
to  loom  up  in  the  semi-darkness  of  my  chamber  as  if  it 
had  arisen  from  the  ground,  and  at  the  same  moment  a 
strong  arm  drove  me  back,  and  laid  me,  prostrate  and 
breathless,  on  a  couch  near  by.  Being  more  astonished 
than  frightened  by  this  sudden  apparition,  I  turned  my 
gaze  steadily  upon  it,  and  was  able  to  master  all  the 
minutisB  of  its  appearance. 

The  figure,  as  I  have  said,  was  gigantic  in  height. 


GHOST  LAND.  115 

and  of  vast  proportions;  but  as  it  seemed  to  be  entirely 
shrouded  in  some  envelope  of  a  gray  and  misty  nature, 
I  was  unable  to  determine  whether  it  wore  the  human 
form  or  not.  At  first  it  loomed  up  before  me  like  an 
irregularly-shaped  column,  but  as  I  gazed,  I  could  per- 
ceive the  substance  or  material  which  enveloped  it 
change,  flutter,  collapse,  and  expand,  after  the  fashion 
of  smoke  or  mist.  It  seemed,  too,  as  if  an  atmosphere 
less  dense  than  itself  surrounded  it,  and  occasionally 
emitted  a  luminous  radiance  through  the  apartment. 

]STo  word  was  spoken;  no  sound  broke  the  deathly 
stillness  as  I  reclined  on  the  couch,  where  the  force  of 
that  shrouded  thing  had  cast  me. 

At  first  a  sense  of  terrible  helplessness  possessed  me, 
and  I  felt  oppressed  even  unto  death  by  the  power 
of  a  crushing  nightmare;  but  after  the  pause  of  a  few 
breathless  moments,  the  unknown  stirred,  and  extended 
a  part  of  itself — a  robe  or  some  attachment  belonging  to 
its  columnar  proportions — towards  me  in  the  attitude  of 
protection.  Following  upon  this  motion  others  ensued, 
and  then  it  seemed  as  if  wreaths  of  mist  were  rolling 
through  the  apartment,  and  folding  up  like  cloudy  drap- 
ery around  the  quivering  mass  that  stood  erect  at  my 
side.  All  this  I  saw,  and  as  it  seemed  with  my  natural 
eyes,  for  on  this  occasion  I  retained  all  the  normal 
faculties  of  my  waking  state,  and  can  never  recall  the 
slighest  sensation  either  of  dreaming,  trance,  or  mag- 
netic efflatus.  Presently  the  mists  which  had  filled  the 
chamber  cleared  away,  and  with  their  dispersion  the 
scene  also  changed.  I  beheld  no  more  the  walls,  ceil- 
ing, and  furniture  of  my  sleeping-room,  but  I  found 
myself  gazing  upon  the  interior  of  an  old  Gothic  church. 

I  looked  around,  and  could  distinctly  trace,  aye,  even 
read,  the  brass  tablets  on  the  walls,  the  inscriptions  on 


116  GHOST  LAND. 

many  an  ancient  monument,  and  note  various  forms  of 
marble  statuary,  some  broken  and  defaced  by  time,  others 
in  a  fine  state  of  preservation.  I  saw  no  organ  or  instru- 
ment of  music  within  the  fane,  but  there  were  finely- 
carved  stalls  and  a  magnificent  pulpit,  the  steps  of  which 
I  perceived  had  been  worn  by  the  traces  of  many  feet  in 
by-gone  ages.  A  splendid  railing  parted  off  the  altar 
or  communion-table  from  the  body  of  the  church,  and 
behind  it  stood  three  men  in  black  dresses,  such  as  I 
learned  afterwards  were  worn  by  ministers  of  the 
Scotch  Kirk.  Before  the  screen  or  railing,  kneeling  in 
long  rows  on  the  steps  and  ground,  was  a  crowd  of 
women  and  children  clad  in  the  ordinary  dress  of  the 
poorer  classes  of  the  land;  behind  these  again,  and  fill- 
ing up  the  entire  body  of  the  church,  was  a  crowd  of 
earnest,  sorrowful-looking  men,  who  seemed  to  be  regard- 
ing the  kneeling  figures  with  the  deep  sympathy  of  inter- 
ested kindred.  It  appeared  to  me  as  if  this  vast  concourse 
was  gathered  together  to  witness  some  ecclesiastical  cer- 
emony in  which  the  kneeling  women  and  children  played 
the  part  of  penitents.  One  of  the  ministers  appeared 
to  be  addressing  them  in  a  style  of  stern  exhorta- 
tion, though  I  could  not  hear  the  words  he  spoke.  At 
length  I  felt  the  approach  of  a  new  presence.  A  sound 
came  soughing  through  the  air  like  the  rush  of  heavy 
wings.  I  could  feel  the  wind  stir  the  hair  on  my  tem- 
ples, when  the  same  demon  crew  rushed  by  that  I  had 
seen  in  the  glen  a  few  hours  before.  There  they  were 
in  swjarms  and  myriads,  dreadful-looking  shapes,  with 
gleaming  eyes  and  faces  distorted  with  the  wild  joy 
of  their  frantic  revel.  In  an  instant  the  whole  host  of 
demons  swooped  down  on  the  kneeling  crowd,  and  van- 
ished, immersed  as  it  seemed,  in  the  bodies  of  their  vic- 
tims. I  saw  them  no  more,  but  in  their  places  the  women 


GHOST  LAND.  117 

and  children  themselves  assumed  the  attitudes  of  the 
fiends  that  possessed  them.  They  sprang  up  with 
whoops,  yells,  and  shrieks  of  perfect  frenzy.  Some 
rolled  on  the  ground,  foaming  at  the  mouth,  others  beat 
their  breasts  and  tore  their  hair,  uttering  piteous  cries 
and  choking  sobs ;  some  stood  erect,  with  clasped  hands 
and  upturned  eyes,  in  silent  prayer;  and  others  danced 
around  them,  uttering  mocking  execrations  that  made 
the  blood  of  every  listener  curdle. 

Little  children  began  to  scale  the  walls  and  columns, 
run  along  the  giddy  heights  of  window-sills,  and  sus- 
pend themselves,  coiled  up  like  squirrels  or  monkeys, 
on  cornice,  roof,  or  pinnacle. 

The  whole  scene  was  one  of  fiendish  import,  horrible 
to  hear,  witness,  or  think  of;  yet  it  was  not  such  a 
rare  spectacle  to  me  as  many  an  unaccustomed  reader 
may  suppose.  I  had  often  witnessed  cases  of  obses- 
sion before,  in  some  instances  falling  upon  whole  com- 
munities, in  others  attacking  only  solitary  individuals. 

The  scene,  shocking  and  loathsome  as  it  was,  I  knew 
and  felt  to  be  a  real  picture ;  and  so  feeling,  I  looked  with 
ever-deepening  interest  to  discover  from  whence  the 
deliverance  would  come.  Yet  come  indeed  it  did,  and 
thus  it  was:  Whilst  the  ministers  shouted  forth  their 
prayers  and  exorcisms,  mingling  up  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture and  fierce  cries  for  civic  help  in  a  strange  jumble 
to  which  no  one  listened;  whilst  the  excited  friends  and 
kindred  of  the  possessed  rushed  from  one  to  the  other 
in  the  vain  endeavor  to  subdue  them  into  modest  beha- 
vior by  tears  and  supplications,  in  the  midst  of  this 
pandemonium,  another  phase  of  the  phantom-scene 
transpired.  I  saw  two  fair  and  gracious  beings  float 
into  the  midst  of  the  demon  revel,  clad  in  robes  of  glis- 
tening white,  and  leading  by  the  hand  a  young  man,  in 


118  GHOST  LAND. 

whom  I  at  once  recognized  the  exact  presentment  of 
myself.  The  dress  of  this  wraith,  although  resem- 
bling the  one  I  then  wore,  was  still  remarkable  from 
the  fact  that  it  seemed  to  be  composed  of  some  glitter- 
ing substance,  from  which  streams  of  light  radiated 
in  every  direction,  enveloping  the  phantom  in  an  aura 
of  wonderful  brightness.  As  these  figures  appeared 
upon  the  scene,  the  disturbance  instantly  ceased.  The 
cries  died  away;  the  children  dropped  down  from  their 
fantastic  perches,  and  crept  to  their  mothers'  arms; 
every  one  subsided  into  the  attitude  of  repose,  and  as 
if  an  enchanted  wand  had  been  waved  over  the  wild 
revel,  a  deep,  holy  calm  seemed  to  have  been  diffused 
on  all  around. 

Whilst  I  was  gazing  in  delight  upon  this  happy 
change,  I  noticed  that  a  strange  blue  mist  began  to 
rise  from  the  forms  of  the  obsessed.  At  first  it  ap- 
peared to  be  a  mere  thread-like  vapor,  but  gradually 
it  extended  in  volume  until  it  filled  the  church,  and  in 
the  midst  of  its  rolling  waves  I  saw  the  forms  of  the 
elementaries  shooting  up  in  air  with  the  same  wild 
shrieks,  hisses,  and  grimaces  with  which  they  had 
borne  down  on  their  victims.  Upwards  and  outwards 
they  soared,  an  obscene  host,  before  whose  approach 
the  walls,  ceiling,  and  windows  seemed  to  melt  away, 
or  become  soluble,  permitting  the  dark  shapes  to 
pass  through  as  if  they  had  been  air;  and  they  sped, 
screaming  and  gibbering,  into  the  heavy-laden  atmo- 
sphere, where  they  were  at  last  lost  in  masses  of 
rolling  clouds. 

Directly  the  elementaries  disappeared  from  the  build- 
ing, I  beheld  the  noble  and  erect  form  of  Professor  von 
Marx  entering  it.  He  wore  his  college  robe  and  cap, 
and  carried  in  his  hand  a  knotted  staff  wreathed  round 


GHOST  LAND.  119 

with  a  serpent,  similar  to  one  I  had  seen  him  use  in  cer- 
tain invocatory  processes.  This  staff  he  laid  lightly  on 
the  heads  of  the  lately  obsessed  ones,  when  instantly  they 
arose  from  their  semi-entranced  positions  like  beings  re- 
stored from  the  dead.  With  a  slight  start,  as  if  awak- 
ening from  slumber,  the  victims  proceeded  to  arrange 
themselves  in  ranks  before  the  altar,  taking  their  places 
beside  their  husbands,  fathers,  and  children  with  the 
calm  and  modest  deportment  of  pure-minded  matrons  in 
attendance  upon  a  religious  ceremony.  The  ministers 
opened  their  books,  and  began  to  read.  A  dimness 
now  crept  oyer  the  scene,  no  longer  emanating  from  the 
phantom  worshippers,  but  stealing  in  insidious  wreaths 
from  the  gigantic  figure  at  my  side.  The  couch  on 
which  I  reclined  rocked  and  reeled;  enclosing  walls 
seemed  gradually  to  grow  up  around  me;  the  church, 
with  its  tablets,  sculptured  ornaments,  and  silent  congre- 
gation, melted  out  of  view.  My  last  memory  was  of  a 
gloriously  radiant  face  bending  over  me,  loving  eyes 
gazing  tenderly  into  mine,  and  a  sweet,  distant,  chiming 
voice  murmuring  as  if  from  afar  off,  "  He  giveth  His 
beloved  sleep." 

It  was  nearly  noon  before  I  felt  able  to  join  my  host 
and  his  friends  on  the  following  day. 

My  dear  master,  with  his  usual  kind  solicitude,  paid 
me  an  early  visit,  and  listened  to  a  detailed  account  of 
my  previous  night's  vision.  On  this,  as  on  every  other 
occasion  when  I  related  to  him  my  extra-mundane  expe- 
riences, he  never  wounded  me  by  doubt  or  denial  of  my 
statements.  Many  points  of  my  narrative  drew  from 
him  instructive  and  philosophical  comments,  and  when 
I  had  concluded,  he  informed  me  that  we  were  expected 
to  accompany  our  host  to  the  villages  he  had  designed 
to  pass  through  on  the  previous  night,  and  he  further 


120  GHOST  LAND. 

intimated  that  he  somewhat  anticipated  I  should  find  a 
commentary  upon  my  previous  night's  vision  in  the  pro- 
posed excursion. 

The  place  we  were  to  visit  had  a  barbarous  Highland 
name,  which  I  am  now  unable  to  recall,  but  the  main 
incidents  I  have  to  relate  are  too  well  known  to  the 
inhabitants  of  that  district  to  need  more  particular  indi- 
cation. Once  more  we  passed  through  the  weird  glen 
we  had  traversed  the  night  before,  and  once  more  I 
experienced  the  approach  of  involuntary  somnambulism; 
but  being  now  on  my  guard,  I  was  able  to  conquer  the 
tendency,  and  we  arrived  without  interruption  at  our 
destination. 

This  was  a  beautiful  village,  nestling  at  the  foot  of  a 
range  of  mountains,  covered  as  usual  with  sweet  purple 
heather,  and  crowned  with  the  ruins  of  a  fine  old  castle. 
On  our  arrival,  our  host  intimated  his  intention  of  car- 
rying us  to  the  house  of  the  minister  of  the  place,  by 
whom  he  said  our  visit  had  been  expected  at  a  much 
earlier  hour.  My  attention,  however,  was  irresistibly 
attracted  to  a  fine  old  Gothic  church,  which  stood  on 
an  eminence  surrounded  by  a  grove  of  trees,  and  about 
the  open  doors  of  which  were  gathered  an  immense 
concourse  of  people.  "Without  waiting  for  guidance  or 
consultation,  I  felt  impelled  to  dismount,  throw  the 
horse's  reins  to  a  groom,  spring  up  the  eminence,  and 
push  my  way  amongst  the  throng  into  the  church. 
Every  one  made  way  for  me  as  I  advanced.  Whether 
they  were  impressed  by  my  impulsive  action,  my  foreign 
appearance,  or  some  other  inexplicable  cause  I  know  not, 
but  the  jostling  crowds  drew  back  as  I  approached, 
and  parted  a  way  for  me,  through  which  I  sped  on  until 
I  reached  the  scene  of  action.  This  I  doubt  not  my 
readers  will  already  be  prepared  to  learn  was  the  exact 


GHOST  LAND.  121 

counterpart  of  my  last  night's  vision.  There  were  the 
same  brass  tablets  and  marble  monuments  on  the  walls 
and  floor;  the  same  carved  stalls  and  pulpit;  the  high 
Gothic  windows  of  stained  glass,  casting  their  many-col- 
ored reflections  of  saints  and  apostles  on  the  checkered 
marble  aisle  below.  There,  too,  was  the  same  gilded 
screen  parting  off  the  communion-table  from  the  body 
of  the  .church.  Behind  this  dividing  line  stood  the  three 
ministerial  men,  in  black,  that  I  had  seen  in  my  vision. 
They  each  held  open  Bibles  in  their  hands,  and  were 
occupied,  like  their  phantom  presentments,  in  hurling 
exorcisms,  prayers,  passages  of  Scripture,  and  wrathful 
denunciations  against  a  frenzied  mob  of  women  and 
children,  who,  with  sobs,  shrieks,  wails,  fierce  laughter, 
wild  oaths,  and  frantic  gesticulations,  were  enacting  in 
its  hideous  details,  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  scene 
I  had  beheld  in  vision  twelve  hours  before. 

Turning  my  eyes  upwards  I  beheld,  as  I  expected, 
little  children  running  along  the  dizzy  heights  of  the 
windows  and  cornices,  mewing  like  cats,  barking  like 
dogs,  or  coiling  themselves  up  like  serpents  in  nooks 
which  would  hardly  have  afforded  foothold  for  a  squirrel. 
One  ecstatic  was  actually  suspended  in  the  air  several 
feet  above  the  ground,  and  her  distracted  husband,  cling- 
ing to  her  feet,  was  vainly  endeavoring  by  main  force  to 
drag  her  down  to  earth.  Sobs  and  supplications,  min- 
gled groans  and  prayers,  wild  laughter  and  bitter  wail- 
ings,  resounded  on  every  side  of  me.  Had  I  been 
myself  and  in  full  possession  of  my  normal  faculties,  I 
should  have  stopped  my  ears  and  fled  from  this  inferno 
as  from  a  pest-house;  but  the  spirit  was  on  me,  and 
though  in  full  possession  of  my  sense  of  observation, 
every  other  faculty  was  under  the  dominion  of  a  bright 
and  beautiful  band  of  planetary  angels,  who  accompa- 


122  GHOST  LAND. 

iiied  and  impelled  me  on,  and  who  from  my  boyhood 
had  guided,  counselled,  and  influenced  me,  under  the 
spell  of  the  deep  magnetic  trance.  Awake  now,  and 
fully  aware  of  their  blessed  presence  and  ministry,  I 
passed  amidst  the  demoniac  rout  as  if  I  had  myself 
become  a  spirit.  I  can  not  recollect  that  I  touched  the 
earth  or  realized  the  slightest  sense  of  weight  or  hin- 
derance  to  locomotion. 

I  moved  silently  through  the  maddened  groups,  and 
they  fell  at  my  feet,  clasping  and  kissing  my  hands, 
addressing  me  as  "  the  angel  of  deliverance,"  and  hailing 
me  as  the  "  sent  of  God." 

I  do  not  recollect  that  I  spoke  in  words,  but  I 
thought  pity  for  these  sufferers,  and  sent  up  thanks  to 
an  unknown  God  that  they  were  to  be  free  from  their 
tormentors.  I  know  that  the  same  flight  of  demons 
that  I  had  witnessed  in  vision  rose  through  the  groined 
arches  and  Gothic  roof  of  the  church;  and  when  my 
part  was  done,  and  the  stilled  multitude,  like  rebuked 
children,  subsided  into  their  places,  hushed,  quiet,  and 
prayerful,  I  too  stood  aside,  moved  by  the  angel  pres- 
ence that  attended  me,  and  just  as  I  expected,  Pro- 
fessor von  Marx  and  his  friends  came  forward  and  took 
my  place.  At  once  assuming  the  post  of  authority 
that  belonged  to  him,  my  noble  master  moved  amongst 
the  quiet  and  humble  throng,  laid  his  powerful  hands 
upon  them,  and  murmured  a  few  words  of  encourage- 
ment in  their  ears.  The  effect  of  his  action  was  no 
less  magical  than  that  which  had  attended  mine.  The 
women  started  up  and  began  to  arrange  their  dishev- 
elled hair  and  disordered  dresses  with  modest  haste. 
Many  of  them  blushed,  and  dropped  the  peasant's  cour- 
tesy of  the  country,  thanking  "the  good  doctor"  for 
their  recovery.  One  little  child,  whose  shrieks  had 


GHOST  LAND.  123 

been  most  frantic  and  whose  actions  resembled  only 
those  of  a  tiger,  humbly  murmured,  "Forgive  me, 
mother  dear!  I  have  had  a  sad,  drear  dream,  and  I 
fear  I've  been  very  naughty." 

Amongst  this  primitive  and  superstitious  people  it 
is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  obsession  which 
had  thus  fallen  upon  them  had  been  attributed  wholly 
to  the  power  of  witchcraft. 

The  cure  now  so  suddenly  wrought  in  their  midst, 
however  beneficial  its  results,  could  not  fail  to  suggest 
the  same  weird  influence.  Of  this  the  laird  we  were 
visiting  was  perfectly  aware.  He  hastened  therefore, 
to  whisper  in  the  ears  of  some  of  the  church  officials, 
who  had  been  amazed  witnesses  of  the  scene,  that  we 
were  celebrated  German  doctors;  that  our  cures  were 
effected  by  means  of  concealed  but  very  potent  drugs ; 
and  that,  as  warm  Lutherans,  they  might  rely  upon  our 
methods  being  strictly  orthodox  and  in  accordance 
with  the  doctrines  of  ecclesiastical  practice. 

Fearful  lest  our  inveterate  heterodoxy  might  in  some 
unguarded  moment  display  itself  in  contradiction  to 
these  whispered  explanations,  our  good  host  hurried 
us  away,  and  it  was  on  our  return  to  his  hospitable 
mansion  that  we  learned  the  material  details  of  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  we  had  been  unpremeditated  actors. 

About  four  months  ago,  it  appeared,  a  young  girl  in 
the  parish,  who  had  always  been  more  or  less  the  sub- 
ject of  strange  dreams,  visions,  and  tendencies  to  epi- 
lepsy, became  suddenly  frightened  by  what  she  insisted 
upon  declaring  to  be  the  apparition  of  w  six  fairy  peo- 
ple," who  came  into  her  chamber  through  the  window, 
and  after  performing  sundry  pranks  in  her  presence, 
laid  their  hands  one  after  another  upon  her  mouth,  and 
declared  that  she  should  not  again  taste  food  until  she 


124  GHOST  LAND. 

came  forth  at  midnight,  to  dance  with  the  fairy  people. 
After  this  strange  narrative,  the  girl  began  to  pine 
away,  refused  food,  and  for  several  weeks  lived  en- 
tirely without  any  sustenance;  fits  of  deep  somnolency 
attacked  her ;  and  to  use  her  parents'  simple  phraseology, 
"She  began  to  die  while  yet  she  lived."  All  at  once  she 
revived  from  this  lethargic  state,  and  at  the  recommen- 
dation of  a  neighbor,  she  and  three  girls  of  her  acquaint- 
ance stole  forth  one  night  at  the  full  of  the  moon  to 
keep  tryst  with  the  mysterious  "  good  people,"  who  a 
month  before  had  invited  her  to  one  of  their  midnight 
gatherings.  Without  deeming  it  worth  while  to  repeat 
the  wild  tale  of  glamour  the  romantic  adventuresses 
brought  back  from  their  midnight  escapade,  it  is  enough 
to  relate  that  from  that  time  forth  they  began  to  mani- 
fest all  the  signs  of  obsession,  the  excess  of  which  has 
been  described  in  the  foregoing  pages.  Unfortunately, 
their  aberrations  were  not  limited  to  themselves.  At 
first  their  little  brothers  and  sisters,  next  their  mothers, 
and  finally,  scores  of  young  people  and  females  of  their 
acquaintance,  fell  under  the  same  dreadful  ban.  Even 
the  domestic  animals  associated  with  them  seemed  to 
share  their  fatal  propensities;  they  ran  wild,  changed 
their  natures,  and  in  some  instances  died  beneath  the 
effect  of  the  spell.  Priests  and  mediciners  exerted  their 
powers  in  vain.  The  fell  disease  only  increased  in  pro- 
portion to  the  efforts  made  to  quell  it;  and  finally  our 
host,  fearing  that  the  superstitions  of  the  country  people, 
once  aroused,  would  induce  them  to  lay  violent  hands 
upon  some  helpless  persons  suspected  of  being  instru- 
mental in  promoting  the  witch  mania,  and  hearing  of 
our  projected  tour  to  the  north,  determined  to  try  if 
genuine  spirit  power  would  not  do  for  his  afflicted 
neighbors  what  material  science  and  superstitious  piety 


GHOST  LAND.  125 

had  failed  to  effect.  He  confessed,  in  fact,  that  he  had 
pressed  his  hospitality  upon  us  as  much  in  the  hope  that 
our  occult  knowledge  might  devise  means  of  relieving 
the  district  as  in  admiration  of  Professor  von  Marx's 
high  reputation  and  standing  in  a  certain  society  to 
which  he  belonged. 

The  result  was  achieved  with  even  more  success  than 
had  been  anticipated.  Our  host  had  purposely  drawn 
us  towards  the  scene  of  the  visitation  on  the  first  day 
of  our  arrival,  but  without  informing  us  of  the  real  mo- 
tives which  prompted  him.  The  effect  of  our  near  prox- 
imity to  the  possessed  village  upon  our  unfortunate 
horses  baffled  him  at  first,  and  made  him  fearful  of  try- 
ing further  experiments,  especially  when,  during  the 
night  which  followed  our  visit  to  the  glen,  he  was  in- 
formed by  his  grooms  that  the  horse  I  had  ridden  dur- 
ing the  day  had  actually  died  of  fright.  K I  prayed," 
said  the  good  old  man,  "to  the  Father  of  spirits  to  send 
his  angel  to  guide  us  through  this  wilderness  of  terror. 
Long  and  earnestly  did  I  pray,  and  when  the  gray  of 
the  morning  came,  I  fell  asleep  from  sheer  exhaustion, 
and  dreamed  I  saw  myself  and  you,  my  friends,  leading 
the  Israelites  of  old  through  an  awful  wilderness,  but  I 
saw  moreover,  that  we  were  guided  by  a  pillar  of  cloud , 
which  moved  before  us,  and  by  this  I  knew  that  my 
prayers  were  answered,  and  that  the  angel  of  deliver- 
ance was  at  hand."  Some  months  later  we  heard  from 
our  venerable  friend  that  no  signs  of  the  demon  fever 
had  ever  reappeared  in  his  district,  and  that  none  of 
his  young  clanswomen  had  again  seen  fairies  or  stolen 
forth  by  moonlight  to  attend  their  midnight  revels. 


CHAPTEE  VH. 

THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   OBSESSION. 

IN  this  day  of  universal  enlightenment  there  can  be 
few  if  any  readers  of  these  pages  who  have  not  heard, 
read  of,  or  witnessed  some  cases  of  obsession  similar  to 
that  described  in  the  last  chapter.  The  well-informed 
student  of  psychologic  phenomena  must  be  aware  that 
I  have  understated  rather  than  exaggerated  the  worst 
features  of  such  scenes,  whilst  I  refer  those  who  are  unfa- 
miliar with  the  subject  to  the  graphic  accounts  of  obses- 
sion in  different  countries,  and  occurring  at  different 
epochs  of  time,  given  by  William  Howitt,  Dr.  Ennemo- 
ser,  Schuberth,  Horst,  Upham,  and  other  writers  on  spirit- 
ualistic subjects.  By  these  eminent  authorities  descrip- 
tions have  been  given  of  the  convulsionnaires  of  St. 
Medard,  the  nuns  of  Loudon,  the  preaching  epidemic 
at  Sweden,  etc.,  before  the  thrilling  horrors  of  which 
my  brief  sketch  of  obsession  in  the  Scotch  Highlands 
becomes  tame  and  lifeless.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most 
forcible  and  striking  instances  of  this  demoniac  fever  on 
record  occurred  as  recently  as  1864,  when  a  wholesale 
obsession  seized  upon  the  quiet  and  peaceful  inhabitants 
of  Morzine,  Switzerland,  which  lasted  for  a  period  of 
over  four  years,  and  included  in  its  ravages  more  than  a 
thousand  of  the  best  disposed,  most  pure,  pious,  and 
inoffensive  dwellers  of  that  district.  William  Howitt 
has  given  a  fine  magazine  sketch  of  this  terrible  visita- 


GHOST  LAND.  127 

tion,  which.he  justly  entitles  w  The  Devils  of  Morzine." 
Whether  this  caption  be  regarded  as  referring  to  the 
unhappy  victims  or  the  power  that  controlled  them,  it  is 
certainly  a  most  appropriate  definition  of  the  condition 
in  which  hundreds  of  hapless  persons  appeared  during 
the  reign  of  the  demoniac  fever  which  infested  Morzine 
for  several  years. 

I  know  it  is  the  favorite  theory  of  the  modern  spir- 
itists, especially  in  America,  to  attribute  all  extra-mun- 
dane visitations,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  to  the  spirits 
of  deceased  persons.  I  have  conversed  with  many 
very  intelligent  clairvoyants  who  have  described  appa- 
ritions which  manifested  themselves  in  the  form  of 
dogs,  cats,  bears,  tigers,  and  other  animals,  and  all 
these  appearances  they  assured  me,  were  but  the  repre- 
sentation of  human  beings  under  low  conditions  of 
development.  The  same  persons  have  informed  me, 
they  often  saw  different  individuals  surrounded  by 
toads,  lizards,  serpents,  and  vermin,  but  that  such 
objects  had  no  real  objective  existence,  but  were  pro- 
jections from  the  evil  tendencies  of  the  parties,  whose 
thoughts  engendered  them.  They  have  cited  Sweden- 
borg's  doctrine  of  correspondences  in  support  of  their 
opinions,  urging  that  the  great  seer  assures  us  it  is  the 
invariable  tendency  of  evil  thoughts  to  clothe  them- 
selves in  the  shape  of  the  animals  to  which  they  corre- 
spond. It  is  wonderful  to  note  with  what  ingenuity 
and  ceaseless  stretch  of  the  imagination  such  reasoners 
argue  for  the  crystallization  of  thought  into  forms.  In 
their  philosophy  the  varying  appearances  of  the  human 
spirit  are  sufficient  to  account  for  all  the  ground  once 
occupied  by  supernaturalism.  The  Good  People  or 
Fairies  of  England  and  the  Pixies  of  Scotland  are 
simply  the  spirits  of  small  children  clothed  in  green. 


128  GHOST  LAND. 

t 

Pigmies,  Gnomes,  Kobolds,  etc.,  are  the  souls  of  the 
early  men,  who  of  course,  were  very  small  or  very 
large,  in  accordance  with  the  size  of  the  phantoms 
they  are  to  account  for.  In  the  same  manner,  Sylphs, 
Undines,  Salamanders,  and  all  the  weird  apparitions  of 
every  country,  clime,  and  time  are  disposed  of  on  elastic 
human  hypotheses.  In  the  opinion  of  these  philoso- 
phers there  never  was,  will,  or  can  be  any  other  than 
human  spirits,  and  the  whole  boundless  universe  must 
look  to  this  little  planet  earth  to  furnish  forth  the 
material  for  its  population.  There  can  be  but  little 
doubt  that  this  is  a  relic  of  that  materialistic  the- 
ology which  made  a  man  of  its  God,  and  taught  that 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  but  heavenly  gas-lights, 
fixed  in  a  crystal  firmament  for  the  especial  purpose 
of  illuminating  the  path  of  the  sole  end  and  aim  of 
creation,  MAN.  Those  who  plead  for  the  existence  of 
human  spirits  only,  are  wonderfully  ingenious  in  show- 
ing how  they  can  enlarge  themselves  into  giants,  con- 
tract into  dwarfs,  expand  into  winged,  horned,  crooked, 
rounded,  or  elongated  animal  substances;  and  all  this 
mobility  of  representation  is  designed,  they  assure  us, 
to  signify  certain  passions  or  states  of  spiritual  growth 
and  development. 

In  the  cases  of  obsession  at  Morzine,  Sweden,  Scot- 
land, France,  etc.,  also  in  the  reports  of  trials  for  witch- 
craft, especially  in  Xew  England  and  Scotland,  it  is 
notorious  that  the  reputed  witches  and  wizards  were 
accused  of  mimicking  the  actions  of  animals.  In  all 
cases  of  obsession,  too,  this  is  one  of  the  most  marked 
features  of  the  frenzy.  Little  children  are  seized  with 
the  passion  for  climbing,  mewing,  barking,  and  coiling 
themselves  up  into  all  sorts  of  animal  shapes.  The 
records  of  witchcraft  and  obsession  both  present  these 


GHOST  LAND.  129 

repulsive  features  as  an  invariable  rule,  and  those  who 
claim  that  nothing  but  the  action  of  human  spirit  influ- 
ence is  manifested  in  these,  the  lowest  and  most  revolt- 
ing phases  of  spiritism,  fail,  to  my  apprehension,  to 
account  for  this  invariable  tendency.  It  is  contended 
that  the  demons  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  whose  ob- 
session of  human  beings  is  so  often  referred  to,  could  be 
acccounted  for  on  the  ground  of  epilepsy  and  other  con- 
ditions of  physical  disease  to  which  Eastern  nations  are 
peculiarly  liable. 

Without  being  able  to  combat  the  opinions  of  so 
many  respectable  witnesses  and  sound  thinkers  as 
abound  in  the  ranks  of  American  spiritism  (the  chief 
supporters  I  find,  of  the  human  spiritual  theory),  I 
would  yet  submit  that  there  is  a  vast  array  both  of 
direct  and  circumstantial  evidence  favoring  a  belief  in 
the  interposition  of  other  than  human  spirits,  especially 
in  the  cases  of  obsession,  witchcraft,  and  all  other  forms 
of  spiritual  manifestation,  where  demoniac  wickedness, 
animal  tendencies,  and  malignity  towards  the  race  are 
demonstrated. 

I  neither  venture  to  offer  my  own  testimony  as  a 
clairvoyant  nor  that  of  the  thousands  of  seers  and 
seeresses  who  in  all  ages  of  the  world  have  professed  to 
see  and  commune  with  the  elementaries,  as  irrefragable 
proof  of  their  existence.  Swedenborg  and  the  Ajnerican 
spiritists  generally  have  undoubtedly  a  certain  amount  of 
truth  on  their  side  when  they  plead  for  the  representa- 
tion of  man's  basest  passions  in  the  form  of  animals ;  in 
fact  it  is  rather  in  the  tone  of  speculation  than  certainty 
that  we  should  question  whether  this  theory  covers  the 
whole  ground  of  apparitional  manifestations. 

In  another  place  I  shall  present  more  extended  views 
concerning  the  existence  and  gradations  of  elemental 


130  GHOST  LAND. 

life,  for  the  present,  it  must  suffice  to  say,  the  visions 
narrated  in  the  previous  chapter  have  Keen  faithfully 
described,  and  their  results  conform  so  closely  to  the 
experiences  of  a  vast  number  of  seers,  who  have  like 
myself,  witnessed  the  underlying  causes  for  obsession, 
the  source  of  which  is  in  the  invisible  world,  that  I  have 
no  shadow  of  doubt  in  my  own  mind  concerning  the 
exact  nature  of  the  influence  at  work  in  the  case  I  have 
related.  The  theory  of  ancient  magians  and  mediaeval 
mystics  will  be  found  in  harmony  with  those  of  the 
Brotherhood  from  whom  I  first  derived  my  opinions 
concerning  the  existence  of  the  elementaries ;  and  as  I 
have  before  dwelt  upon  this  subject,  I  shall  simply  add 
in  this  place  that  whilst  I  now  believe  the  undeveloped 
spirits  of  humanity  are  actively  engaged  in  stimulating 
every  scene  of  human  folly  and  error  which  re-enacts 
their  own  misspent  lives,  I  am  still  assured  such  occa- 
sions offer  opportunities  for  the  intervention  of  the  lower 
orders  of  elementaries.  I  conceive,  moreover,  that  those 
beings  exert  a  more  constant  and  important  influence 
upon  humanity  than  we  have  dreamed  of  in  our  narrow 
philosophy,  and  that  the  demonstrations  of  this  moment- 
ous truth  will  form  the  next  phase  of  spiritual  revelation 
to  this  generation. 

Let  me  conclude  these  remarks  by  suggesting  in  brief 
the  theories  presented  to  us  by  certain  of  our  spirit 
teachers,  concerning  the  physical  philosophy  of  obsession. 
The  conditions  that  furnish  opportunities  for  this  affection 
are  sometimes  peculiar  to  individuals ;  at  others,  to  com- 
munities. In  the  former  case,  it  is  generally  the  result 
of  a  highly  mediumistic  temperament,  in  which  some 
disturbance  of  the  nervous  system  has  arisen,  rendering 
the  subject  unusually  negative  and  open  to  the  control 
of  strong,  brutal  spirits,  who  desire  to  re-incarnate  them- 


GHOST  LAND.  131 

selves  again  in  human  bodies,  or  elementaries,  who  are 
attracted  by  sympathetic  states  of  the  physical  system 
they  wish  to  obsess.  In  nearly  every  instance,  the  sub- 
jects best  adapted  to  this  terrible  affliction  are  delicate 
and  sensitive  persons,  young  children,  pure  and  simple- 
minded  women,  those  in  fact,  whose  physical  and  ner- 
vous temperaments  are  negative  and  whose  minds  are 
receptive  to  the  influence  of  others. 

When  obsession  affects  an  entire  community  as  in  the 
case  described  in  the  last  chapter,  it  may  generally  be 
attributed  to  epidemic  states  of  the  atmosphere.  Solar, 
planetary,  and  astral  changes  are  forever  transpiring  in 
the  grandly  permanent  yet  grandly  varied  march  of  the 
universe.  That  these  changes  must  affect  the  earth, 
itself  the  subject  of  every  beam  of  light  that  can  reach 
its  surface,  the  simplest  review  of  the  sublime  scheme 
of  the  sidereal  heavens  will  show.  Yet  more  potential 
by  far  than  the  merely  mathematical  astronomer  can 
perceive,  are  the  influences  which  solar,  planetary, 
and  astral  conjunctions  exercise  upon  the  receptive 
earth.  We  must  also  glance  at  the  opinion  which  the 
study  of  astrology  combined  with  astronomy  inclines  us 
to  arrive  at,  which  is,  that  all  diseases,  mental,  moral,  or 
physical,  that  bear  upon  man  in  the  form  of  epidemics 
are  produced  in  the  first  instance  by  malignant  conjunc- 
tions of  the  bodies  in  space  in  relation  to  the  earth. 
Tides  of  atmosphere,  especially  equatorial  currents,  are 
the  carriers  and  distributors  of  these  malignant  influ- 
ences. Hence  arises  the  war  spirit  which  so  often 
marches  from  land  to  land  in  regular  tidal  waves.  In 
the  same  line  of  atmospheric  influences  are  borne  the 
subtile  elements  of  criminal  propensities,  popular  opin- 
ions, fashions,  tastes,  customs,  an  epidemic  of  genius, 
mechanical  skill,  physical  susceptibility  to  certain  dis- 


132  GHOST  LAND. 

eases  and  all  manner  of  plagues.  One  susceptible  or- 
ganism is  first  attacked;  then  by  the  force  of  sympathy 
in  mental,  and  contagion  in  physical  states,  a  whole  com- 
munity or  district  succumbs,  until  the  prevailing  influ- 
ence is  fully  spent,  when  a  reaction  sets  in.  I  have  cited 
the  experience  of  Professor  von  Marx  and  myself  in  the 
Scotch  obsession  chiefly  to  show  how  available  the  all- 
potential  force  of  spiritual  and  animal  magnetism  may 
become  in  such  affections,  and  how  much  more  rapidly 
endemic  disorders,  especially  of  a  nervous  or  spiritualis- 
tic character,  might  yield  to  such  influences  than  to  the 
ordinary  methods  of  cure.  In  my  own  case  I  attribute 
the  marvellous  effect  produced  upon  the  demoniacs 
by  my  presence,  to  the  operation  of  the  beautiful  plan- 
etary spirits  who  poured  their  divine  influence  upon  a 
human  multitude  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  human 
medium.  Professor  von  Marx's  influence  was  more  direct 
and  physically  potential,  for  he  infused  his  own  powerful 
and  healthful  magnetism  upon  the  afflicted  ones  by  direct 
contact.  I  doubt  if  every  case  of  obsession  could  not  be 
thus  instantly  and  effectually  cured,  could  the  right  ele- 
ments of  spiritual  and  human  magnetism  both  be  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  subject. 

I  well  remember  being  in  London,  some  years  ago, 
when  a  most  malignant  and  fatal  form  of  Asiatic  cholera 
was  raging  through  the  city.  The  season  was  that 
of  summer,  the  temperature  immensely  high,  and  the 
deserted  city  seemed  wholly  abandoned  to  the  ravages 
of  the  fell  plague.  Going  forth  into  the  silent  and 
woeful  streets,  one  bright  morning,  when  not  a  single 
particle  of  vapor  flecked  the  deep  azure  of  the  sky,  and 
not  a  cloud  was  visible,  I  beheld  with  open  spiritual 
eyes  an  enormous  column  of  black  vapor  hanging  in 
seething,  murky  folds,  horizontally  extended  and  stretch- 


GHOST  LAND.  133 

ing  for  miles  across  the  infected  districts  of  the  city. 
Curious  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  this  columnar  mass 
I  gave  myself  entirely  up  to  the  magnetic  afflatus,  and 
presently  perceived  that  the  column  was  composed  of 
millions  and  tens  of  millions  of  living  creatures  gener- 
ated in  the  atmosphere  by  a  certain  potent  but  malig- 
nant conjunction  of  the  earth  and  the  stars.  I  realized 
that  this  conjunction  had  converted  the  unparticled 
matter  of  the  atmosphere  into  particled  and  finally 
organic  conditions,  and  though  the  organisms  thus  pro- 
duced were  far  too  attenuated  to  come  within  the  range 
of  any  instruments  yet  known  to  science,  they  were  and 
are  perpetually  in  course  of  formation,  and  when  oper- 
ating, under  malignant  planetary  and  astral  influences, 
they  impressed,  as  in  the  instance  under  consideration, 
a  diseased  and  pernicious  influence  on  the  atmosphere 
through  which  they  were  swept,  and  wherever  they 
were  borne  they  left  their  tracery  behind  in  the  form 
of  pestilence. 

I  can  scarcely  hope  to  be  believed  by  those  who  have 
not  had  the  same  opportunities  of  observation  and  anal- 
ysis as  myself,  but  for  the  truth's  sake  I  will  here  leave 
a  record  behind,  which  may  be  accepted  and  understood 
in  future  generations  even  if  rejected  now. 

It  was  during  the  prevalence  of  the  great  cholera 
plague  to  which  I  refer  that  I  was  invited  by  a  few 
gentlemen,  who  were  in  sympathy  with  my  mystical 
studies,  to  join  them  in  a  select  party,  the  aim  of  which 
was  to  make  astronomical  experiments  under  peculiarly 
favorable  circumstances.  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
mention  the  names  of  those  who  graced  our  little  gath- 
ering; it  is  enough  to  state  that  they  were  all  distin- 
guished for  their  scientific  attainments.  At  a  certain 
period  of  the  night  we  adjourned  to  an  observatory, 


134  GHOST  LAND. 

where  we  were  to  enjoy  the  rare  privilege  of  making 
observations  through  an  immense  telescope,  constructed 
under  the  direction  of  Lord  Eosse.  When  my  turn 
arrived  for  viewing  the  heavens  through  this  wonderful 
piece  of  mechanism,  I  confess  I  beheld  a  sight  which 
for  a  long  time  held  me  breathless.  At  first  I  saw  only 
the  glorious  face  of  the  spangled  firmament,  with  that 
sense  of  mingled  awe  and  reverence  which  never  for- 
sakes the  mind  of  the  most  accustomed  observer  when 
he  exchanges  the  view  of  the  black  vault  of  midnight, 
with  its  thinly-scattered  field  of  distant  lamps  checker- 
ing the  heavens,  for  the  gorgeous  mass  of  divine  pyro- 
technics which  bursts  upon  the  sight  through  the  daz- 
zling revealments  of  the  magic  telescope.  Breathless, 
transfigured,  whirled  away  from  a  cold,  dim,  cloudy 
world  to  a  land — not  of  fairies  or  angels,  but  of  gods 
and  demi-gods — to  skies  burning  and  blazing  with  mil- 
lions of  suns,  double  suns,  star  roads,  and  empyrean 
walls,  in  which  the  bricks  and  mortar  are  sparkling 
suns  and  glowing  systems,  miracle  of  miracles!  I 
hold  my  breath  and  tremble  as  I  think,  for  the  sight 
never  grows  old  nor  familiar  to  me,  and  every  time  I 
have  thus  gazed,  it  has  only  been  to  find  the  awe  and 
wonder  deepen. 

Absorbed  as  I  was  in  contemplating  the  immensity 
and  brilliancy  of  this  ever  new  and  ever  gorgeous  spec- 
tacle, in  about  forty  seconds  from  the  time  When  I  first 
began  to  look  through  Lord  Hosse's  telescope,  I  found 
a  singular  blur  coming  between  the  shining  frame  of 
the  heavens  and  the  object  glass.  I  was  about  to  draw 
back,  deeming  some  accidental  speck  had  fallen  upon 
the  plane  of  vision,  when  I  was  attracted  by  observing 
that  what  I  had  deemed  to  be  a  blur  actually  assumed 
the  shape  of  a  human  profile,  and  was,  even  as  I  gazed, 


GHOST  LAND.  135 

in  the  act  of  moving  along  in  space  between  the  glass 
and  the  heavens.  Fascinated  and  wonder-struck,  I  still 
retained  the  calm  and  fixed  purpose  of  continuing  my 
observations,  and  in  this  way  I  saw,  yes!  I  distinctly 
saw,  a  gigantic  and  beautifully  proportioned  human  face 
sail  by  the  object-glass,  intercepting  the  "view  of  the 
stars,  and  maintaining  a  position  in  mid-air  which  I 
should  judge  to  have  been  some  five  miles  above  the 
earth's  surface. 

Allowing  for  the  immense  magnifying  powers  of  the 
instrument,  I  could  not  conceive  of  any  being  short  of 
a  giant  whose  form  would  have  covered  whole  acres 
of  space,  to  whom  this  enormous  head  could  have 
appertained.  When  I  first  beheld  this  tremendous 
apparition,  it  seemed  to  be  sailing  perpendicularly  in 
the  air,  intercepting  the  field  of  vision  just  between  my- 
self and  the  planet  to  which  the  glass  was  pointed.  I 
have  subsequently  seen  it  four  times,  and  on  each  occa- 
sion, though  the  face  was  the  same,  the  inclination  of 
the  form  must  have  varied,  sometimes  floating  horizon- 
tally, at  another  time  looking  down  as  if  from  a  height, 
and  only  permitting  a  partial  view  of  the  features, 
greatly  foreshortened,  to  appear.  Still  again  I  have  seen 
it  as  at  first,  and  finally,  it  sailed  by  in  such  a  fashion  as 
to  permit  the  sight  of  an  immense  cloudy  bulk  which 
followed  in  the  wake  of  the  beautiful  head,  the  whole 
apparition  occupying  at  least  a  hundred  seconds  in 
passing  the  glass,  during  which  period  the  sight  of  all 
other  objects  but  this  sailing  dense  mass  was  entirely 
obscured.  On  the  occasion  I  at  first  alluded  to,  I 
became  so  fixed  with  astonishment  and  doubt,  that  I 
should  not  have  mentioned  what  I  saw  had  not  the 
figure  returned  and  from  the  side  where  it  had  disap- 
peared I  beheld  it  slowly,  gradually,  unmistakably 


136  UHOST  LAND. 

float  by  the  object-glass  with  even  more  distinctness 
than  at  first.  This  second  time  I  could  perceive  as 
unequivocally  as  if  I  had  been  gazing  at  my  own  reflec- 
tion in  a  mirror,  the  straight,  aquiline  cast  of  features, 
the  compressed  lip,  and  stern  expression  of  the  face, 
the  large,  glittering  eye,  fixed  like  a  star  upon  the  earth 
beneath,  and  long  lashes,  like  a  fringe  of  beams,  falling 
upon  the  side  of  the  face.  A  vast  curtain  of  streaming 
hair  floated  back  from  the  head,  and  its  arrangement 
seemed  to  imply  that  the  form  was  moving  at  an  incon- 
ceivably rapid  rate  through  a  strong  current  of  opposing 
winds.  When  I  had  fully,  unquestionably  satisfied  my- 
self that  what  I  had  seen  was  a  reality,  I  withdrew  from 
the  instrument,  then  requested  one  of  the  company  pres- 
ent to  examine  my  pulse  and  report  upon  its  action. 
"  Moderate  and  firm,"  was  the  reply,  given  in  a  tone  of 
curious  inquiry;  "but  you  look  somewhat  pale,  Cheva- 
lier. May  we  not  know  what  has  occurred  to  disturb 
you?"  Without  answering,  I  proceeded  carefully  to 
examine  the  glass,  and  to  scrutinize  all  its  parts  and  sur- 
roundings, with  a  view  of  endeavoring  to  find  some 
outside  cause  for  what  I  must  else  have  deemed  an 
hallucination. 

I  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  use,  capacity,  and 
arrangement  of  the  telescope,  and  as  neither  within  nor 
without  the  instrument,  nor  yet  in  the  aspect  of  the 
cloudless  sky  could  I  find  the  least  possible  solution  to 
my  difficulty,  I  determined  to  resolve  the  occurrence 
into  the  convenient  word  I  have  just  used,  and  set  the 
matter  down  as  hallucination.  But  my  friends  were 
not  so  easily  satisfied.  Some  of  them  were  personally 
acquainted  with  me,  and  fancied  they  perceived  in  my 
manner  a  thread  of  interest  which  they  were  not  dis- 
posed to  drop.  At  last,  one  of  them,  an  old  and  very 


GHOST  LAND.  137 

if 

venerable  scientist,  whose  opinions  I  had  long  been 
accustomed  to  regard  with  respect,  looking  steadily  in 
my  face,  asked  in  a  deep  and  earnest  tone,  "Will  you 
not  tell  us  if  you  have  seen  anything  unusual?  We 
beg  you  to  do  so,  Monsieur,  and  have  our  own  reasons 
for  the  query."  Thus  adjured,  but  still  with  some  hes- 
itation, I  answered  that  I  certainly  thought  I  had  seen  the 
outlines  of  a  human  face,  and  that  twice,  crossing  the 
object-glass  of  the  telescope. 

Never  shall  I  forget  the  piercing  look  of  intelligence 
interchanged  by  my  companions  at  this  remark.  With- 
out a  word  of  comment  however,  the  one  whose  guest  I 
had  the  honor  to  be,  stepped  to  a  cabinet  in  the  obser- 
vatory where  he  kept  his  memoranda,  and  drawing  forth 
a  package,  he  thus  addressed  me :  "  What  you  may  have 
seen  to-night,  Chevalier,  I  am  not  yet  informed  of,  but 
as  something  remarkable  appears  to  have  struck  you 
in  the  observation  you  have  just  made;  we  are  willing 
to  place  ourselves  at  your  mercy,  and  provided  you  will 
reciprocate  the  confidence  we  repose  in  you,  we  will 
herewith  submit  to  you  some  memoranda  which  will  con- 
vince you  some  of  us  at  least,  have  beheld  other  bodies 
in  space  than  suns  and  planets."  Before  my  honored 
entertainer  could  proceed  further,  I  narrated  to  him  as 
exactly  as  I  could,  the  nature  of  what  I  had  seen,  and 
then  confessed  I  was  too  doubtful  of  my  own  powers  of 
observation  to  set  down  such  a  phenomenon  as  an  actual- 
ity unless  I  could  obtain  corroborative  evidence  of  its 
truth.  "  Receive  it,  then,  my  friend, "  cried  my  host,  in 
such  deep  agitation  that  his  hand  trembled  violently  as 
he  unfolded  his  memoranda,  and  raising  his  eyes  to 
Heaven,  gleaming  through  an  irrepressible  moisture,  he 
murmured  in  deep  emotion,  "Good  God!  then  it  must 
be  true." 


138  GHOST  LAND. 

« 
I  dare  not  recall  verbatim  the  wording  of  the  notes  I 

then  heard  read,  as  they  were  so  mixed  up  with  details 
of  astronomical  data,  which  have  since  become  public 
property,  that  the  recital  might  serve  to  do  that  which 
I  then  solemnly  promised  to  avoid,  namely,  whilst  pub- 
lishing the  circumstances  I  then  heard  of,  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  might  put  faith  in  them,  carefully  to  sup- 
press the  names  of  the  parties  who  furnished  me  with 
the  information.  My  friends  then  (five  in  number  on 
the  occasion  referred  to)  assured  me  that  during  the 
past  six  months,  whilst  conducting  their  observations  at 
that  place,  and  by  aid  of  that  as  well  as  two  other  tele- 
scopes of  inferior  power,  they  had,  all  on  several  occa- 
sions, seen  human  faces  of  gigantic  proportions  floating 
by  the  object-glass  of  their  telescopes,  in  almost  the 
same  fashion  and  with  the  same  peculiarities  of  form 
and  expression  as  the  one  I  had  just  described.  One 
gentleman  added  that  he  had  seen  three  of  these  faces 
on  one  night,  passing  one  after  the  other,  their  transit 
occupying,  with  slight  intervals  between  them,  nearly 
half  an  hour.  For  many  successive  weeks  this  party 
had  stationed  themselves  at  distant  places,  at  given 
periods  of  time,  and  determined  to  watch  for  several 
consecutive  nights  and  see  if  the  same  phenomenon 
could  or  would  appear  to  more  than  one  observer  at  a 
time.  The  memoranda  which  record  the  results  of  this 
experiment  were  indeed  most  startling.  Take  the  fol- 
lowing extracts :  — 

"  Tuesday,  June  4,  18  .  Third  night  of  watching. 
Took  my  station  at  the  glass  at  11.30  p.  M.  At  2,  or 
just^as  the  last  vibration  of  the  clock  resounded  from 
the  observatory,  the  first  outline  of  the  head  came  into 
view.  This  time  the  form  must  have  been  directly 
perpendicular,  for  the  sharp  outline  of  the  straight 


GHOST  LAND.  139 

profile  came  into  a  direct  line  with  the  glass,  and 
enabled  me  to  see  a  part  of  the  neck,  and  clear  the  top 
of  the  head.  The  figure  was  sailing  due  north,  and 
moved  across  the  glass  in  72  seconds,"  etc.  etc. 

Memoranda  2d.  "I  began  to  despair  of  success  as 
three  days  had  now  elapsed  without  any  interruption 
of  the  kind  anticipated  in  my  observations.  At  10 
minutes  and  3  seconds  to  2,  I  began  to  experience  an 
overpowering  sense  of  fatigue,  and  determined  to  close 
my  observations  at  the  moment  my  chronometer  should 
strike  the  hour.  2.30.  —  The  giant  has  just  appeared; 
his  head  came  into  view  exactly  as  the  clock  was 
striking  2,  and  placing  my  chronometer  directly  before 
me  so  as  to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  time  when  he 
disappeared,  I  find  that  his  transit  occupied  exactly  72 
seconds.  Attitude  horizontal,  position  of  head,  a  direct 
and  magnificent  profile."  Note  No.  3  simply  states :  — 

w  Tuesday,  June  4,  18  .  Titanus  came  into  view 
at  2  o'clock  precisely,  sailed  by  in  71^  seconds,  upright, 
and  face  in  profile,  moving  due  north,"  etc.  etc. 

Some  of  the  observations  recorded  by  the  spectators 
of  this  phenomenon  were  full  of  emotion,  and  as  the 
venerable  gentleman  who  first  questioned  me  read  over 
the  comments  this  strange  sight  called  forth,  my  com- 
panions were  so  deeply  moved,  and  manifested  such 
intense  feeling  on  the  subject  of  what  they  had  seen, 
that  the  reading  was  several  times  interrupted,  and  one 
of  the  party  remarked,  he  believed  he  should  be  dis- 
posed to  shoot  any  one  who  should  presume  to  cast 
doubt  or  ridicule  on  a  subject  which  had  affected  them 
all  so  deeply. 

For  the  next  fortnight  I  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
spending  a  considerable  portion  of  each  night  in  that 
observatory.  Twice  the  strange  phantom  sailed  before 


140  QHOST  LAND. 

my  view  in  one  week.  By  permission  of  my  friends, 
I  changed  my  station  and  continued  my  anxious 
watch  with  another  instrument.  On  the  second  night 
I  beheld  the  Titanic  head  with  even  more  distinctness 
than  before,  and  three  of  my  fellow- watchers  shared  the 
weird  spectacle  with  me  from  different  posts  of  observa- 
tion. One  week  later,  although  greatly  fatigued  by  my 
long  and  close  vigils  for  so  many  nights,  I  determined 
to  avail  myself  of  a  final  observation  with  one  of 
the  most  superb  instruments  ever  constructed.  For 
many  hours  my  exhaustive  watch  was  unsuccessful ;  but 
just  as  I  was  about  to  take  my  leave  of  the  enchanting 
fields  of  fiery  blossoms  that  lay  outstretched  before  me, 
two  faces  of  the  same  size  and  expression,  the  one 
slightly  in  advance  of,  and  measurably  shading  the 
other,  sailed  slowly,  very  slowly  into  view.  They 
passed  on  with  such  an  unappreciable,  gentle  motion 
that  I  could  almost  have  imagined  they  were  stationary 
for  some  seconds  of  time.  Their  appearance  so  com- 
pletely surprised  me  at  the  moment  when  I  was  about  to 
retire  that  I  omitted  to  take  note  of  the  time  they  occu- 
pied in  passing.  The  companion  who  shared  my  watch 
had  pointed  his  glass  a  little  more  to  the  east  than 
mine,  and  I  had  but  time  to  murmur  an  injunction  for 
him  to  change  it  as  the  figures  came  into  view.  He 
saw  them,  however,  just  as  they  were  passing  out  of  the 
field  of  vision,  and  exclaimed,  with  a  perfect  shout  of 
astonishment,  w  By  heavens !  there  are  two  of  them ! " 

Some  years  after  this  memorable  night  I  received  a 
letter  from  one  of  my  associates  in  this  weird  secret, 
according  to  me  the  permission  I  sought,  namely,  to 
publish  the  circumstances  I  have  related  thus  far,  but 
carefully  to  withhold  the  witnesses'  names.  In  answer 
to  my  query  whether  my  correspondent  had  again  seen 


GHOST  LAND,  141 

the  tremendous  phantom  of  the  skies,  he  replied  in  the 
negative,  adding,  "Call  me  superstitious  or  what  you 
will :  the  whole  history  lays  us  open  to  ourselves  and  to 
each  other,  to  such  wild  suggestions  and  inconceivable 
possibilities,  that  no  hypothesis  can  seem  so  improbable 
as  that  we  should  all  be  correct.  I  will  venture  to  hint 
to  you,  one  of  us,  you  know,  that  I  have  somehow  always 
connected  the  apparitions  in  question  with  the  preva- 
lence of  the  cholera.  It  was  immediately  in  advance  of 
this  pestilence,  and  during  the  time  when  it  raged,  that 
we  all  saw  them.  Since  that  period  we  have  never 
again  beheld  them,  that  is,  none  of  us  who  now  remain 
on  earth. 

?  These  appearances  ceased  with  the  pestilence,  and 
came  with  it.  Could  they  have  been  the  veritable 
destroying  angels,  think  you?  You,  who  are  a  mystic, 
should  be  able  to  answer  me.  I,  with  all  my  mate- 
rialism, am  so  terribly  shaken  when  I  recall  the  terrific 
reality,  that  I  endeavor  to  banish  its  remembrance  when- 
ever it  recurs  to  me." 

Again,  I  have  anticipated  the  experiences  of  later 
years,  and  been  guilty  of  wandering  from  the  line  of 
narrative  which  the  march  of  events  prescribes.  I  feel 
as  if  I  should  attempt  too  to  render  the  explanations 
of  the  foregoing  circumstances  which  my  astronomical 
friends  looked  to  me  to  supply  them  with,  but  looked, 
as  the  reader  may  do,  in  vain. 

It  seems  to  me  as  if  a  vain  and  egotistical  fear  of  a 
sneering  and  sceptical  age,  keeps  many  others  besides 
my  astronomical  associates  silent  on  the  occurrence  of 
events  'which  are  chiefly  remarkable  because  they  are 
unprecedented,  and  which  encounter  jeers  and  denial 
chiefly  from  those  who  strive  to  measure  eternity  by 
the  foot-rule  of  their  own  petty  intellects.  The  bufiets 


142  GHOST  LAND. 

of  such  small  wits  as  these  have  done  me  the  good 
service  of  making  me  at  last  wholly  indifferent  to 
their  opinions;  hence  I  have  in  this  instance,  and  shall 
in  many  more  throughout  these  papers,  record  what  I 
KNX3W  TO  BE  TRUE,  without  fear  or  favor.  I  can  not 
always  explain  what  I  have  seen,  heard,  and  taken  part 
in,  but  the  favorite  motto  of  a  very  dear  friend  has  now 
become  my  own,  and  "the  truth  against  the  world" 
will  be  the  ruling  inspiration  in  the  dictation  of  these 
pages. 


CHAPTEE    Yin. 

STRAY   WAKDERDTGS. 

"CoME,  Louis!  let  us  leave  all  this.  I  am  tired  for 
you, — tired  of  seeing  you  exhausted  in  body  and  mind 
to  please  insatiate  marvel-seekers;  tired  of  beholding 
every  nerve  kept  on  the  stretch,  and  a  young  life  ebbing 
away  to  feed  the  curiosity  of  those  who  little  know  or 
hee'd  that  they  are  looking  into  the  realms  of  the  invis- 
ible through  the  telescope  of  your  weary  eyes.  Come, 
my  Louis!  we  will  leave  these  festive  scenes,  where 
your  very  being  furnishes  forth  the  feast,  to  go  and 
regale  ourselves  upon  the  fair  face  of  Nature."  Thus 
spoke  Professor  von  Marx  as  I  lay  on  a  couch  where  I 
had  sunk  in  sheer  exhaustion  some  hours  before,  worn 
out  indeed  both  in  body  and  mind  with  the  repeated 
seances,  undertaken  to  gratify  the  numerous  kind  enter- 
tainers who  besought  us  to  "come  and  take  rest"  at 
their  hospitable  mansions  in  some  charming  retreat, 
which  they  converted  into  a  scene  of  fashionable  satur- 
nalia, where  crowds  of  visitors  were  invited  to  meet 
and  stare,  and  not  uncommonly  to  sneer  at  also,  "the 
great  German  occultist  and  his  young  somnambulist, 
who  were  so  very  wonderful  and  so  very  entertaining, 
and  all  that  sort  of  thing." 

Thoroughly  sick  of  being  lionized,  and  solicited,  the 
professor  to  talk  philosophy  and  put  fine  ladies  into  be- 
coming trances,  and  I  to  raise  up  Undines  and  Sylphs, 


144  GHOST  LAND. 

and  predict  which  would  be  the  winning  horse  at  the  next 
"  Derby,"  I  joyfully  obeyed  the  behest  of  my  dear  mas- 
ter to  depart  with  him  that  evening  on  "urgent  business," 
which  would  compel  us  to  decline  all  further  invitations, 
and  leave  the  world  of  fashion  for  parts  unknown. 

We  did  not  travel  very  far  at  first,  for  I  was  too  thor- 
oughly depleted  to  endure  the  fatigue  of  a  long  journey 
anywhere.  Professor  von  Marx  either  desired  me  to 
realize  practically,  or  else  had  to  learn  the  lesson  him- 
self, that  the  aims  for  which  spiritual  forces  are  em- 
ployed determine  in  a  great  measure  the  recuperative 
powers  of  the  body  that  is  their  vehicle.  So  long  as  I 
was  occupied  as  the  seer  of  the  noble  professor,  and  the 
high-toned  and  powerful  adepts  with  whom  I  had  been 
constantly  associated  on  the  Continent,  my  soul  Vas 
fed  with  intellectual  inspiration,  and  my  physique  was 
vitalized  by  life-giving  magnetism.  I  frequently  passed 
whole  days  without  food,  whilst  engaged  in  these  ses- 
sions, yet  I  never  experienced  the  slightest  sense  of 
fatigue,  weariness,  or  hunger. 

I  lived  in  a  state  of  semi-ecstacy,  my  whole  being 
sustained  to  its  fullest  capacity  of  reception,  both  men- 
tally and  physically. 

In  my  dear  master's  presence  I  felt  an  influx  of  strength 
and  spiritual  power  impossible  to  describe.  I  should  not 
dare  to  relate  to  those  who  have  never  experienced  their 
exalting  and  ecstatic  possibilities  the  phenomenal  evi- 
dences of  magnetic  force  too  which  these  seances  evolved. 
It  is  enough  to  affirm,  it  was  as  natural  for  the  seers  on 
such  occasions  to  ascend  in  air,  and  float  there  at  will,  as 
to  remain  attached  to  the  earth,  in  fact  the  token  which 
a  closed  circle  of  adepts  were  accustomed  to  receive  that 
their  magnetic  aura  had  combined  in  the  required  degree 
was  the  levitation  of  their  seers,  and  their  suspension 


GHOST  LAND.  145 

in  air  for  given  periods  of  time.  But  let  it  be  remem- 
bered that  my  companions  were  all  intellectual  men,  and 
isolated  in  the  grand  purpose  of  their  researches;  they 
cguld  at  will  send  forth  the  spirits  of  their  seers  to  trav- 
erse space,  but  they  never  exerted  this  stupendous  power 
on  trivial  occasions  or  for  the  mere  gratification  of  sel- 
fish aims. 

Their  sole  aspiration  was  to  discover  and  gauge  the 
forces  of  the  unseen  universe  and  penetrate  into  the 
profoundest  of  Nature's  mysteries.  They  were  often 
cold,  hard,  stern,  and  remorseless  in  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge,  but  in  their  presence  the  minds  of  their 
seers  could  not  fail  to  grow  and  expand  into  lofty  aspi- 
rations and  soar  away  above  the  frivolities  and  petty 
aims  in  which  most  young  people  are  educated. 

Of  all  their  seers,  too,  I  believed  they  loved  me  the 
most.  Combined  with  their  indomitable  purpose  of 
wresting  from  Nature  her  secrets  at  any  cost,  there 
was  a  special  gentleness  and  appreciative  respect  in 
their  dealings  with  me,  which  made  the  bond  between 
us  unusually  kind  and  sympathetic,  and  thus  I  was 
kept  completely  isolated,  I  might  say  sacredly  reserved 
for  the  most  exalted  purposes  of  research  and  aspira- 
tional  effort. 

Let  the  character  of  these  seances  be  compared  with 
the  littleness,  selfishness,  and  frivolity  of  the  fashion- 
able crowds  by  whom  I  had  been  recently  surrounded, 
and  the  effect  of  the  latter  upon  me  may  be  measurably 
appreciated.  It  required  but  a  few  weeks  of  such  a  life 
to  convert  me  into  a  forlorn,  worn-out  invalid,  and  to 
assure  my  dear  master  the  stern  restrictions  he  had  laid 
upon  the  very  thoughts  no  less  than  the  lives  and  habits 
of  the  persons  whose  magnetisms  were  permitted  to 

become  incorporated  into  the  systems  of  his  sensitives 

10 


146  GHOST  LAND. 

were  justified  by  the  practical  though  bitter  experiences 
of  his  best-beloved  somnambulist  in  fashionable  English 
society. 

How  well  he  understood  both  the  nature  of  my  suf- 
ferings and  their  cause,  I  one  day  learned  by  hearing 
him  addressing  a  party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  who 
had  been  pleading  for  another  seance,  "just  one  more, 
before  the  cruel  professor  took  his  charming  young 
mystic  away,  to  bury  his  talents  amongst  German  boors 
or  plotting  Bluminee."  Addressing  these  butterflies  in 
his  gravest  tones,  I  heard  him  say,  "  Spiritual  forces  are 
sacred  elements  which  should  not  be  tampered  with, 
and  unholy,  impure,  or  sensually-minded  individuals 
can  more  safely  play  with  the  lightnings,  or  hurl  burn- 
ing coals  at  each  other's  heads,  than  deal  with  or  touch 
the  lightnings  of  life,  or  palter  with  the  fires  of  soul. 
My  Louis,"  he  added  with  terrible  emphasis,  "is  almost 
dying  of  such  play,  and  I  take  him  hence  at  once  to 
save  the  remnant  of  his  —  to  me  —  most  precious  life." 
I  fear  I  may  not  succeed  in  impressing  my  inexperi- 
enced readers  with  the  force  of  these  positions.  I  nar- 
rate them  as  they  occur,  faithfully  and  truthfully,  but 
to  an  age  that  has  been  accustomed  to  regard  occult 
power  as  a  mere  hap-hazard  endowment  requiring  no 
culture,  no  conditions,  and  spiritual  gifts,  as  a  mere 
source  of  amusement  or  curious  experiment,  to  be  exer- 
cised at  will  in  any  company  or  under  any  circumstances, 
I  shall  never  write  understanding^,  and  my  views  will 
be  regarded  as  overstrained  or  rhapsodical,  and  my 
narrative  as  exaggerated  if  not  actually  untrue.  Still 
I  re-echo  the  above-quoted  words  of  my  beloved  mas- 
ter, and  confident  that  in  a  succeeding  generation,  if 
not  in  this,  their  import  will  be  duly  recognized  and 
acted  upon,  I  proceed  with  my  narrative. 


GHOST  LAND.  147 

After  passing  through  many  a  lovely  scene,  and  halt- 
ing as  our  inclination  prompted  us  at  little  wayside  inns 
in  the  most  rural  and  unfrequented  spots  we  could  find, 
Professor  von  Marx  and  I  determined  to  make  a  toui 
through  the  lake  district  of  Cumberland.  Whilst  we 
were  lingering  in  this  enchanting  region,  we  were  in- 
duced to  make  a  detour  of  several  miles  from  our  pro- 
jected route,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  humble 
dwelling  of  one  Frances  Jones,  an  abnormal  personage, 
known  in  that  district  as  the  "Welsh  fasting  girl." 
This  case,  which  had  attained  considerable  celebrity,  pre- 
sented most  of  the  general  features  which  accompany 
protracted  fasting,  namely,  long-continued  fits  of  som- 
nolence and  occasional  intervals  of  remarkable  lucidity, 
during  which  the  girl  delivered  trance  addresses  of 
wonderful  beauty  and  exhibited  striking  powers  of  clair- 
voyance and  prevision.  Professor  von  Marx  was  not 
prompted  to  make  this  visit  by  the  motives  of  vulgai 
curiosity  which  attracted  crowds  of  persons  to  the  resi- 
dence of  this  phenomenon.  He  knew  how  long  I  could 
myself  subsist  without  material  sustenance ;  he  had 
witnessed  the  extraordinary  effects  of  renewed  life  and 
vitality  I  had  exhibited  by  sleeping  for  some  time  on 
beds  of  fresh  flowers  or  sweet-scented  herbs;  above  all, 
he  had  frequently  seen  me  maintain  a  protracted  fast 
of  several  days,  without  experiencing  Imnger  or  weak- 
ness, by  simply  placing  me  in  the  magnetic  condition  at 
stated  periods,  and  surrounding  me  with  a  strong  circle 
of  powerful  magnetizers. 

The  professor  and  his  associates  had  demonstrated  to 
their  entire  satisfaction  the  triumph  of  spiritual  forces 
over  material  in  my  case,  and  were  prepared  to  carry 
their  theories  forward  into  still  more  extraordinary  re- 
sults, when  opportunities  were  favorable  for  their  exper- 


148  GHOST  LAND. 

iments.  It  was,  therefore,  with  a  view  of  analyzing  a 
case  which  might  present  some  kindred  features  that 
Professor  von  Marx  and  myself  set  out  upon  this 
visit. 

"We  found  our  subject  sitting  upright  in  bed,  with  her 
eyes  firmly  closed,  and  her  form  and  face  by  no  means 
emaciated,  though  somewhat  pallid  from  her  frequent 
isolation  from  the  light,  which  at  times  affected  her 
unfavorably.  Just  as  we  arrived  she  was  "  in  one  of  her 
fits,"  as  her  rustic  parents  informed  us ;  that  is  to  say, 
in  one  of  those  crises  or  periods  of  her  disorder  when 
she  was  impelled  to  utter  her  singularly  beautiful  improv- 
isations, one  of  which  she  was  pouring  forth  in  a  strain 
of  remarkable  eloquence  to  a  crowd  of  gaping  country 
folks  as  we  entered  the  cottage.  Directly  Professor  von 
Marx  crossed  the  threshold  the  girl  stopped  speaking, 
and  beckoning  to  him  with  an  authoritative  air,  took  his 
hand,  laid  it  on  her  head,  and  with  looks  of  ecstacy  which 
transfigured  her  face  into  an  almost  angelic  expression, 
murmured,  "  Great  master,  you  are  welcome !  Speak, 
and  I  will  answer  you." 

Question.  Tell  me  truly,  is  it  Frances  Jones  or  the 
spirit  of  another  who  addresses  me? 

Answer.  I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilder- 
ness, Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord ! 

Q.    "Whose  voice  cries? 

A.     Him  that  cryeth  now  as  of  old. 

Q.    You  call  yourself  John  the  Baptist,  then? 

A.     Thou  sayest  it. 

Q.     Who  and  what  is  the  Messiah  you  predicate? 

A.  The  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  on  all  flesh;  and 
behold  (pointing  her  finger  at  me)  even  there,  is  one 
of  the  prophets  of  the  new  dispensation.  Thou  knowest 
it,  and  he  can  tell  thee  all  thou  hast  come  here  to  inquire. 


GHOST  LAND.  149 

Q.  Not  all;  I  wish  to  hear  from  your  own  lips  a  de- 
scription of  your  case. 

A.     Ask  him;  he  knoweth. 

Q.     By  what  means  are  you  sustained  in  life? 

A.  I  am  fed  by  the  angels,  and  live  on  angels'  food; 
I  hunger  not,  neither  do  I  thirst. 

Q.  You  speak  now  as  Frances  Jones :  where  is  the 
spirit  who  first  addressed  me? 

A.  He  moves  these  utterances  and  inspires  these 
answers. 

Q.     Was  he  a  man  or  an  angel? 

A.  If  I  should  answer  thee  thou  wouldst  not  believe 
me.  Thou  art  of  the  sect  of  Sadducees,  who  say  there 
is  no  spirit  or  angel.  I  cast  not  my  pearls  before  swine 

The  professor  here  smiled  at  me  significantly,  but  con- 
tinuing to  address  the  patient,  he  rejoined,  — 

Q.  Can  I  do  you  any  good  by  the  touch  of  my 
hand? 

A.  Thou  hast  done  all  that  was  required  of  thee;  the 
closed  gate  is  unlocked  by  tliy  liand,  and  in  due  course 
of  time  the  angels  of  restored  health  will  reopen  it  and 
walk  in.  Now  depart  in  peace.  Thy  seer  will  telj  thee 
the  rest. 

At  this  point  the  invalid  sank  back  upon  her  pillow 
with  a  slight  convulsion,  which,  passing  rapidly  away, 
left  her  features  calm,  pale,  and  tranquil,  when  her  ordi- 
nary deep  sleep  fell  upon  her,  and  her  .parents  assured 
us  it  might  be  many  hours  ere  she  would  reawaken. 
Before  we  quitted  the  cottage  I  informed  my  master 
what  I  had  clairvoyantly  perceived  in  this  case,  namely, 
that  a  partial  paralysis  had  attacked  first  the  great  solar 
plexus,  then  extended  throughout  the  ganglionic  sys- 
tem, finally  impinging  in  the  same  partial  way  upon  the 
cerebro-spinal  nerves.  The  medulla  and  cerebellum 


150  GHOST  LAND. 

were  more  powerfully  affected  than  the  cerebrum,  and 
the  pneumagastric  nerve  was  more  completely  paralyzed 
than  any  other  of  the  cranial  system.  I  observed  that 
the  processes  of  evaporation  and  absorption  remained 
untouched,  and  acted  with  their  usual  force ;  hence,  she 
could  receive  such  nourishment  as  imponderable  elements 
afforded  her,  and  her  assertion  that  she  partook  of  angels' 
food  was  not  altogether  irrational. 

It  is  certain  that  little  or  no  waste  of  tissue  could 
ensue  in  a  state  which  was  entirely  one  of  passivity. 
Though  the  vital  functions  were  in  operation,  they  pro- 
ceeded so  slowly  that  there  could  be  little  more  waste  or 
evaporation  than  the  process  of  absorption  might  renew ; 
hence  the  absence  of  emaciation  or  any  evidence  of  that 
decay  which  might  have  been  the  result  of  inanition.  It 
seemed  that  a  certain  periodical  condition  of  activity  set 
in  at  stated  times,  and  kind  Nature  us.ed  these  opportu- 
nities to  attempt  a  renovation  of  the  paralyzed  system  \ 
then  it  was,  that  the  invalid  became  clairvoyant,  uttered 
her  remarkable  trance  addresses,  and  with  eyes  closely 
bandaged  to  exclude  the  light,  which  distracted  her  sen- 
sitive brain,  the  poor  girl  cut  out  paper  flowers  and 
made  little  drawings,  which  were  sold  by  her  poor  rela- 
tives. I  perceived  that  this  young  creature  was  sur- 
rounded by  crowds  of  spiritual  beings,  who  fed  her  with 
the  emanations  of  plants,  vegetables,  and  the  magnetism 
of  some  of  those  who  visited  her  parents'  cottage. 

I  also  saw  that  the  strong  and  potential  magnetism  of 
Professor  von  Marx,  had,  through  the  hand  which  he 
placed  on  her  head,  infused  new  life  into  her  system,  by 
virtue  of  which  the  paralytic  condition  of  her  frame 
had  in  truth  been  "unlocked."  Eecuperative  action 
once  commenced,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  perceiving  that 
nature  would  do  the  rest;  that  the  real  source  of 


GHOST  LAND.  151 

cure  was  already  infused,  and  that  with  ordinary  care 
this  girl  would  be  restored  in  two  months  more.  I 
mentioned  this  promise  in  my  clairvoyant  vision  to  her 
family.  Professor  von  Marx  at  the  same  time  gener- 
ously supplied  them  with  funds  to  supersede  the  neces- 
sity of  their  appealing  to  the  charity  of  inquisitive 
strangers,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  learning  some 
months  later,  that  a  gradual  and  apparently  spontaneous 
cure  had  set  in  from  the  time  of  our  visit,  until  this  poor 
sufferer  had  become  completely  restored.  I  understood 
that  her  faculty  of  trance-speaking  and  clairvoyance 
ceased  with  her  recovery,  in  a  word,  spirits  found  no 
more  a  vehicle  for  the  reception  of  their  influence,  and 
her  own  normal  activity  furnished  no  longer  the  condi- 
tions for  abnormal  control.  I  have  since  witnessed  many 
cases  of  long-protracted  fasting,  accompanied  by  som- 
nolent states  and  periodical  conditions  of  clairvoyance, 
and  I  very  much  doubt  if  the  physical  causes  would  not 
be  found  in  every  instance .  measurably  the  same,  had 
scientists  the  same  opportunities  for  analyzing  the  ob- 
scure realms  of  causation  as  clairvoyance  afforded  to  me. 
It  was  a  few  days  after  our  visit  to  the  "Welsh 
fasting  girl"  that  Professor  von  Marx  and  I,  sitting 
in  the  porch  of  a  rustic  inn-door,  observed  a  tall  and 
stately  female  approaching  us,  attired  in  the  humble 
peasant  garb,  with  the  scarlet  cloak  and  hood  which 
distinguishes  that  singular  class  of  vagrants  known  as 
"  gypsies."  Dressed  as  we  were,  simply  in  sportsmen's 
costume,  and  lodgers  at  an  humble  wayside  public  house, 
we  did  not  expect  to  attract  the  attention  of  those  shrewd 
wanderers  whose  favors  are  most  liberally  tendered  to 
the  wealthy;  but  our  new  visitor  evidently  deemed  she 
was  in  the  right  track  when  she  approached  us,  for  she 
advanced  with  an  air  so  decided  that  we  felt  as  if  we 


152  GHOST  LAND. 

were  fairly  captured  before  she  had  spoken  a  word. 
Fixing  her  lustrous  black  eyes  with  the  most  piercing 
expression  upon  me,  she  asked  in  a  sweet  voice,  and 
with  a  far  more  polished  mode  of  expression  than  ordi- 
nary, if  I  did  not  want  my  fortune  told.  "See  what  you 
can  find  out  for  my  father  first,"  I  replied  laughingly, 
pointing  to  the  professor,  who  sat  by  my  side. 

"He  is  no  father  of  yours,  senor,"  said  the  girl  decid- 
edly, "nor  does  he  come  from  the  same  land,  or  own 
one  drop  of  the  blue  blood  that  flows  in  your  veins." 

Now,  if  there  ever  were  two  human  beings,  who, 
without  the  slightest  tie  of  consanguinity  between  them, 
closely  resembled  each  other,  those  two  persons  were 
Professor  von  Marx  and  myself.  "We  were  constantly 
taken  for  father  and  son  by  those  who  first  met  us;  and 
whether  from  our  peculiar  interior  relations  to  each 
other,  or  because  [Nature  had  formed  us  out  of  the 
same  mould  I  know  not,  but  certain  it  is  that  it  would 
have  required  some  direct  evidence  to  the  contrary,  to 
convince  any  stranger  that  we  were  not  what  we  called 
each  other,  namely,  father  and  son.  As  such  we  had 
been  known  in  our  rural  wanderings  of  the  last  few 
weeks,  and  in  those  characters  we  had  charged  the 
single  groom  who  attended  us,  to  represent  us  at  the 
inns  where  we  stayed. 

This  striking  proof  of  our  new  acquaintance's  dis- 
cernment then,  awakened  our  curiosity,  and  induced  us 
to  let  her  proceed  with  her  proposed  delineation  of  our 
future.  As  far  as  the  past  was  concerned,  she  gave  a 
perfectly  correct  account  of  myself,  my  family  connec- 
tions and  characteristics,  but  when  she  came  to  depict 
the  future  she  gazed  at  me  with  such  deep  and  pitying 
earnestness  that  her  eyes  filled  with  tears  and  her 
sweet  voice  became  broken  with  emotion.  Her  mode 


GHOST  LAND.  153 

of  speech  changed,  too,  from  the  rambling  monotone 
of  her  craft  to  a  fine  sonorous  rhyme,  a  sort  of  lofty 
"rune,"  in  which  she  prophesied  for  me  a  life  of  deeply 
tragic  import,  and  sorrows  which  God  alone  knows  how 
truthfully  she  foreshadowed.  At  length  she  paused 
in  her  sad,  wild  song,  —  indeed  I  interrupted  her, — 
for  I  felt  she  spoke  the  truth,  and  yet  I  would  rathei 
not  have  heard  the  sad  page  rehearsed  in  those  hours 
of  fleeting  sunshine  and  gladness. 

When  it  came  to  Professor  von  Marx's  turn  she 
absolutely  refused  to  give  him  one  word.  He  could 
neither  bribe,  threaten,  nor  coax  her  into  a  prophecy, 
and  though  her  own  bright  eyes  fell  before  his  still 
more  lustrous  and  penetrating  glances,  I  saw  the 
unbidden  moisture  trembling  on  her  long  lashes,  as 
she  resolutely  reiterated  she  had  nothing  to  tell  him. 

Professor  von  Marx  was  in  one  of  his  satirical,  if 
not  gay  moods,  and  snatching  the  little  hand  with 
which  she  was  waving  him  off,  he  exclaimed,  "What, 
not  one  word,  my  pretty  Gitana?  not  if  I  cross  this 
hand  of  yours  with  gold  instead  of  silver?" 

"Not  for  the  wealth  of  the  Indies!"  she  cried,  in  a 
harsh,  frightened  tone,  as  she  fiercely  drew  her  hand 
away.  Then,  as  the  color  died  on  her  flushed  cheek, 
and  the  wild  expression  of  her  dark  eyes  became  sub- 
dued before  his  resistless  glance,  she  murmured  in  a 
beseeching  tone,  "Master  of  spirits,  spare  me!  I  dare 
not  speak  now." 

"  Enough,  enough ! "  he  replied,  waving  her  off  and 
throwing  into  her  hand  several  pieces  of  silver,  which 
she  as  hastily  pushed  back.  *  You  are  wiser  in  holding 
your  tongue,  Gitana,  than  you  are  in  loosing  it;  but  take 
your  money,  —  nay,  I  command  you!"  The  girl  slowly 
and  reluctantly  dropped  the  money  into  a  bag  at  her 


154  GHOST  LAND. 

side,  and  was  turning  away,  when  the  professor  recalled 
her  in  a  half-laughing  tone,  by  saying,  "  We  shall  see 
you  again,  my  fair  Zingara;  we  are  coming  to  board 
with  you  a  while.  What  is  your  name,  my  princess?" 

"  Juanita,"  replied  the  gypsy,  in  a  low,  humble  tone. 

"And  you  are  a  queen  in  your  tribe,  Juanita,  is  it  not 
so?" 

"  I  am,  senor,"  replied  the  girl,  proudly. 

"  I  thought  so,"  rejoined  my  master.  :?  Well,  good- 
by  for  the  present!  We  shall  soon  meet  again." 

The  gypsy  turned  submissively  away  without  a  word 
and  that  night,  in  obedience  to  my  wayward  father's  will, 
we  left  our  groom  and  baggage  at  the  inn,  and  the  pro- 
fessor, carrying  a  small  valise  in  his  hand,  led  me,  by  an 
instinct  peculiar  to  himself,  over  moss  and  fell,  moorland 
waste,  and  through  mountain-passes,  until  we  had  trav- 
ersed a  distance  of  nearly  seven  miles,  and  at  length,  a 
little  before  midnight,  we  came  in  sight  of  the  lonely 
field  where  outstretched  tents  marked  an  extensive 
gypsy  encampment. 

Juanita,  who  was  indeed  the  veritable  queen  or  leader 
of  the  tribe  which  we  were  about  to  visit,  seemed,  by 
the  same  instinct  that  had  guided  us,  to  be  fully  pre- 
pared for  our  coming.  She  had  ordered  two  tents  to  be 
got  ready  for  us,  and  already  our  savory  supper  smoked 
upon  the  wooden  platters  laid  out  for  our  entertainment. 
The  red  fires  were  smouldering  in  dotted  heaps  over  the 
wild  heath;  a  fe\y  lanterns  still  burned  at  intervals  on 
the  crossed  sticks  that  upheld  them.  Most  of  the  en- 
campment were  asleep,  but  the  beautiful  Juanita  wel- 
comed us  as  expected  guests,  with  that  natural  grace 
which  belongs  to  the  dispenser  of  hospitality  every- 
where. Professor  von  Marx  took  her  aside  and  spoke  a 
few  earnest  words,  to  which  she  listened  with  a  downcast 


GHOST  LAND.  155 

and  reluctant  manner.  He  then  gave  her  money,  which 
she  received  in  the  same  subdued  way,  although  at  first 
she  strenuously  endeavored  to  return  it.  When  the 
interview  closed,  she  waited  on  us  at  supper  with  the 
grace  and  condescension  of  a  captive  princess,  and 
showed  us  to  our  tents,  in  which  beds  of  fragrant 
heather,  covered  with  the  skins  of  deer,  were  already 
prepared  for  us.  My  tent,  I  observed,  was  adorned 
with  bouquets  of  sweet  wild  flowers,  the  professor's 
with  some  curious  skins  and  a  few  stuffed  lizards  and 
reptiles. 

w  The  girl 's  a  witch,"  said  the  professor,  as  he  ob- 
served these  significant  arrangements,  "  and  has  read  us 
like  a  book." 

Before  parting  for  the  night  my  master  gave  me  to 
understand  he  had  long  been  seeking  an  opportunity  for 
me  to  spend  some  days  in  this  rough  tent-life.  w  I  want 
to  bring  you  down  from  heaven  to  earth,"  he  said, — "to 
make  you  sleep  on  the  earth,  and  partake  of  earthly 
things;  it  is  only  in  this  way  I  can  hope  to  keep  you 
upon  the  earth  as  long  as  you  ought  to  remain."  My 
master's  expectations  of  benefit  to  an  overtaxed  frame 
were  speedily  realized.  Deep  and  unbroken  slumbers 
visited  me  under  the  greenwood  tree,  such  as  I  had 
not  known  for  many  years.  Believed  from  the  artificial 
restraints  of  conventional  life,  and  subject  to  the  rough 
but  appetizing  fare  of  these  wanderers,  I  became  posi- 
tively rugged,  and  delighted  my  watchful  and  anxious 
companion  by  the  length  of  my  daily  rambles  and  the 
keen  enjoyment  with  which  I  entered,  for  the  time  being, 
into  the  rough  sports  of  my  entertainers. 

Everything  was  so  new,  free,  and  enchantingly  natu- 
ral that  I  began  to  contemplate  the  tent-life  as  my  future 
destiny,  and  actually  set  myself  to  studying  the  manners, 


156  GHOST  LAND. 

customs,  and  language  of  these  vagrants,  with  a  view 
to  my  adoption  in  their  respectable  ranks.  Whilst  the 
charm  of  this  recuperative  and  healthful  change  lasted 
I  sought  to  excuse  to  myself  the  aimless  life  of  indo- 
lence I  was  leading,  by  endeavoring  to  discover  if  this 
singular  people  cherished  amongst  themselves  any 
legendary  opinions  concerning  their  own  origin.  Exist- 
ing everywhere,  but  everywhere  as  a  solitary,  marked, 
and  isolated  band  of  fugitives;  never  at  home,  though 
everywhere  familiar;  always  strangers,  though  they 
might  be  in  the  very  country  of  their  birth;  realizing 
more  completely  than  any  other  created  beings  the  awful 
legend  of  Cain,  "A  vagabond  and  a  fugitive  shalt  thou 
be  on  the  face  of  the  earth";  homeless,  nationless, 
unconnected  with  any  other  races  than  those  so  widely 
scattered  over  the  world,  yet  ever  bearing  in  theii 
physiognomy,  character,  language,  and  customs,  pecu- 
liar traits  which  never  forsake  them  and  at  once  distin- 
guish and  isolate  them  from  all  other  living  peoples, — 
who  can  solve  the  problem  of  their  exceptional  and 
incomprehensible  destinies? 

Except  in  respect  to  the  peculiar  characteristics 
which  must  accompany  very  poor  nomadic  tribes,  I 
have  never  found  amongst  the  Bohemians  of  France 
and  Germany,  the  Zingari  of  Italy,  the  Gitanas  of  Spain, 
the  Gypsies  of  England,  etc.,  any  marked  criminal  ten- 
dencies or  specialties  that  seemed  to  explain  the  world- 
wide ban  of  proscription  that  has  followed  them  for  at 
least  the  eight  hundred  years  during  which  they  have 
been  known  as  a  separate  people.  I  found  on  this 
occasion,  as  on  many  others,  when,  in  later  years  I 
spent  a  few  days  of  free,  wild,  untrammelled  life 
amongst  the  Gypsies,  that  the  great  majority  of  them, 
though  shrewd  and  crafty  enough  in  some  respects, 


GHOST  LAND.  157 

were  stoydly  ignorant  and  indifferent  concerning  theii 
origin  or  national  existence. 

Juanita  was  one  of  those  rare  and  exceptional  beings 
whose  appearance  amongst  such  hordes,  serves  to  stamp 
them  with  an  air  of  romance  and  throw  around  theii 
name  and  fame  those  captivations  of  ideality  which 
have  rendered  them  so  celebrated  in  poetry,  music,  and 
romantic  literature.  Juanita  was  the  reigning  queen 
of  a  large  tribe  composed  partly  of  Spanish  and  partly 
of  English  gypsies,  over  all  of  whom  she,  a  Spaniard 
by  birth  and  descendant  of  a  former  king  of  the  tribe, 
ruled  with  undisputed  sway.  She  was  but  twenty-five 
years  of  age,  beautiful  as  a  poet's  dream,  impulsive, 
passionate,  poetical,  and  proud,  with  a  natural  tone  of 
refinement  and  sensibility  in  her  nature,  come  from 
whence  it  may,  which  would  have  graced  an  Andalu- 
sian  princess. 

This  beautiful  and  wayward  being,  deigned  to  select 
me  as  the  special  object  of  her  favor  during  our  esca- 
pade., and  by  way  of  disposing  of  Professor  von  Marx, 
for  whom  she  conceived  a  corresponding  aversion  not 
unmixed  with  awe,  she  assigned  him  a  guide  and  com- 
panion, in  the  person  of  her  young  brother  Guido,  a  fine, 
intelligent  lad  some  ten  years  her  junior,  with  whom 
the  professor  took  long  rambles  and  soon  became  fast 
friends.  It  was  our  daily  custom  to  make  our  simple 
sportsman's  toilette,  by  a  fre^h  bath  in  the  flowing  river 
which  skirted  the  encampment.  Our  breakfast  was  par- 
taken of  in  the  large  common  tent  to  which  Professoi 
von  Marx  on  our  first  entrance,  had  paid  such  a  footing, 
as  should  ensure  the  foragers  of  the  party  a  quiet  holi- 
day and  total  cessation  from  their  ordinary  methods  of 
replenishing  the  larder,  during  the  whole  time  of  OUT 
residence  amongst  them.  The  morning  meal  disposed 


158  GHOST  LAND. 

of,  the  men  betook  themselves  to  their  petty  trades  as 
itinerants,  the  women  to  their  domestic  duties  and  the 
care  of  their  children,  of  whom  there  were  the  usual 
bountiful  supply.  The  professor  wandered  off  with 
Guido,  and  sometimes  joined  a  hunting  party,  which,  in 
less  choice  phraseology,  might  have  been  termed  by  the 
more  conventional  name  of  poaching.  Meantime  I  wan- 
dered off  with  Juanita  to  gather  flowers  and  mosses, 
visit  the  most  romantic  nooks  and  glens  of  a  wild  and 
almost  savage  district,  and  hear  this  beautiful  creature 
pour  out  rapid  and  singularly  sweet  poetical  improvisa- 
tions concerning  that  beloved  Andalusia  of  which  she 
informed  me  she  was  a  native,  though  descended  as  she 
sometimes  claimed  from  "  a  long  line  of  Moorish  kings." 
At  night  we  returned  to  the  tents,  where  the  professoi 
won  all  hearts  by  romping  with  the  little  ones,  playing 
at  rough  sports  with  the  boys,  cards  with  the  English 
gypsies,  whom  of  course  he  always  allowed  to  beat  him, 
and  making  himself  generally  delightful  to  young  and 
old,  and  such  an  astonishment  in  my  eyes,  that  he  would 
often  burst  into  a  fit  of  uncontrollable  merriment  as  he 
caught  my  looks  of  amazement  at  his  thorough  trans- 
figuration. 

I  was  not  less  popular  with  these  ragamuffins  than 
my  plastic  master,  for  besides  being  the  chosen  friend 
of  their  proud  and  authoritative  ruler,  I  sang  them  songs 
which  I  will  venture  to  affirm  obtained  more  rapturous 
encores  and  genuine  applause  than  ever  greeted  a  prima 
donna  assoluta.  Besides  my  volJcs  lied  and  Italian  can- 
zonets, Juanita  and  the  Spanish  gypsies  made  sweet 
music  with  their  guitars  and  lutes,  and  some  of  the 
English  girls  sang  glees  with  a  simplicity  and  sweetness 
that  was  wonderfully  touching  in  this  moon  and  star  lit 
auditorium. 


GHOST  LAND.  159 

One  old  crone  of  the  English  tribe,  whose  forte  was 
story-telling,  and  who  varied  our  evening  camp-fire 
amusements  by  legends  which  would  have  done  honor 
to  Munchausen,  traced  back  for  me  the  history  of  her 
people  to  one  of  the  Pharaohs.  She  also  detailed 
graphic  accounts  of  some  of  her  former  states  of  exist- 
ence, she  being,  like  others  of  her  compeers,  a  decided 
"  re-incarnationist,"  and  finally  gave  me  to  understand 
that  though  she  then  performed  the  humble  duty  of  tend- 
ing the  gigantic  cauldron  from  whose  savory  steams  the 
promise  of  a  real  gypsy  feast  was  to  be  derived,  she  well 
remembered  the  time  when  she  was  "  one  of  the  highly 
trusted  officers  of  a  certain  mighty  Pharaoh,  by  .whose 
orders  the  great  pyramid  of  Egypt  had  been  erected, 
under  her  supervision." 

In  their  natural  gifts  of  improvisation,  prevision,  and 
spontaneous  clairvoyance,  no  less  than  in  certain  physiog- 
nomical peculiarities,  these  people  continually  reminded 
me  of  some  of  the  still  existing  low  castes  of  Hindostan. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  their  nomadic  lives  and 
constant  intercourse  with  Nature  in  her  ever-varying 
moods,  are  all  aids  in  unfolding  the  interior  perceptions 
of  these  dwellers  in  tents;  still  there  are  vestiges  of 
Oriental  tendencies  in  their  fervid  imaginations,  alle- 
gorical modes  of  expression,  some  of  their  customs  and 
religious  beliefs,  which  plead  strongly  for  an  inheritance 
derived  from  the  far  East  in  many  successive  genera- 
tions. Their  language,  too,  although  containing  whole 
vocabularies  of  slang  phrases  and  thieves'  jargon,  still 
partakes  of  the  Sanskrit  character,  and  there  are  some 
words  which  I  found  to  be  pure  and  unadulterated 
Sanskrit.  A  vague  traditionary  belief  exists  amongst 
them  all  that'they  originally  came  from  the  East,  were 
a  once  "  mighty  people,"  but  had  become  degraded  and 


160  GHOST  LAND 

scattered.  To  my  mind  they  have  never  been  anything 
but  a  degraded  people.  I  am  more  and  more  inclined 
to  the  opinion  that  they  came  from  one  of  those  low 
and  oppressed  castes  of  India  which  were  driven  forth 
and  scattered  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  under  Moham- 
medan rule  and  oppression. 

The  most  accomplished  amongst  them  were  astrolo- 
gers, and  I  found  that  their  calculations  and  methods 
were  purely  Chaldaic.  Juanita  was  as  well  skilled  in 
this  art  as  any  person,  save  one,  I  ever  met  with.  That 
one  was  a  distinguished  Arabian  physician,  a  member  of 
the  "Berlin  Brotherhood,"  an  admirable  astronomer  and 
mathematician;  in  fact,  he  was  professor  of  astronomy 
at  the  scene  of  my  boyhood's  studies,  and  from  him  I 
learned  the  Chaldaic  method  of  calculating  the  stars,  one 
that  had  never  been  published  to  the  world,  and  was 
only  imparted  under  certain  conditions  to  adepts.  Yet 
here  in  the  wilds  of  Cumberland  I  found  it  substantially 
known  and  practised  by  a  poor  Gitana,  who  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  w  See,  senor  mio,"  she  would  cry,  "  I 
can  not  tell  you  how  I  know  these  things,  but  I  will  show 
you."  She  would  then  find  a  flat  stone  or  smooth  piece 
of  wood,  and  chalk  thereon  maps  of  the  heavens,  divid- 
ing the  stars  by  lines  and  connecting  them  in  squares 
and  figures  with  an  accuracy  which  perfectly  bewildered 
me.  Substantially  I  repeat,  her  method  was  that  of  the 
Arabian  philosopher,  and  yet  this  untaught  girl  worked 
out  with  her  fingers  and  piles  of  pebbles  a  scheme  that 
she  could  have  obtained  only  from  Chaldaic  sources,  and 
those  of  the  most  occult  and  secret  nature.  Juanita 
informed  me  she  had  derived  her  knowledge  from  her 
father,  like  herself  a  ruler  in  his  tribe,  and  that  he 
again  had  obtained  it  by  direct  succession  from  a  long 
line  of  ancestors. 


GHOST  LAND.  161 

w  Now,  ^Tita,"  I  said,  w  tell  me  the  names  of  the  stars 
you  have  figured  out  here,  and  then,  show  them  to  me 
on  the  heavens  " ;  for  I  wished  to  see  if  this  was  mere 
routine  work,  or  whether  the  girl  really  understood  what 
she  had  drawn.  Fixing  her  dark  eyes  on  the  shining 
field  of  light  above  our  heads  she  began,  in  a  high  strain 
of  poetical  imagery,  to  describe  the  famous  legend  of  the 
astronomical  religion,  pointing  out  correctly  every  con- 
stellation of  which  she  spoke,  but  to  my  utter  amaze- 
ment giving  to  those  shining  bodies,  not  the  ordinary 
astronomical  names,  but  their  cabalistic  titles  and  his- 
tory, and  reciting  some  of  the  myths  in  this  connection 
that  I  have  never  seen  anywhere  detailed,  except  in  the 
ancient  "  Zoliar  "  or  "  Book  of  Light."  More  and  more 
perplexed  by  this  sibyl's  strange  lore,  I  endeavored  by 
every  means  I  could  devise,  to  ascertain  how  she  had 
gained  her  extraordinary  knowledge.  I  found  then,  what 
I  had  before  suspected,  that  the  gypsies  were  not,  as 
has  been  generally  supposed,  conformists  to  the  religion 
of  any  country  in  which  they  chanced  to  sojourn,  but 
that  with  all  their  slang  habits  and  reprobate  style  of 
life,  they  were  genuine  fire  worshippers,  and  cherished 
amongst  them  the  Sabaen  system  with  the  real  ardor  of 
Parsees.  More  than  this  I  could  not  learn;  but  as  Nita 
would  go  into  ecstacies  over  certain  stars  which  she 
delighted  to  liken  to  my  eyes,  ending  by  christening  me 
her  w  star-beam,"  I  determined  to  change  the  conversa- 
tion by  inviting  her  to  teach  me  the  art  of  palmistry,  — 
"that  art,  you  know,  Nita,  by  which  we  first  became 
acquainted,"  I  said.  "  Palmistry ! "  replied  the  girl,  with 
a  scornful  laugh;  "there  is  no  such  thing  as  palmistry 
in  the  sense  you  mean  it,  senor;  we  don't  really  tell 
fortunes  by  the  lines  of  the  hand.  See,  she  added, 

snatching  impulsively  at  my  hand  and  pointing  to  its 

11 


162  GHOST  LAND. 

undefined  lines,  "  you  have  no  lines  here,  like  working 
people.  Such  a  hand  tells  nothing,  save  of  the  menials 
that  work  for  you.  No,  no,  senor ;  it  was  your  eyes  that 
told  me  all  your  sad,  wild  history.  When  I  look  at  the 
stars  they  tell  me  a  thousand  times  more  than  those 
charts  of  my  fathers ;  so  it  is  when  I  look  at  your  eyes. 
There  I  read  your  history,  your  soul,  your  mind;  past, 
present,  future,  —  all  linger  in  those  dark  depths  so 
plainly,  so  clearly,  that  I  could  see,  did  I  dare  to  gaze 
long  enough,  —  ay!  see  the  day  when  the  earth  will 
grow  cold  and  chill  because  the  lustre  of  your  life 
will  be  quenched  out  of  it." 

"  Never  mind  that  day,  Nita,  —  would  to  heaven  it 
were  to-morrow! — but  tell  me  yet  more  plainly  how  yon 
see  all  this." 

"How  should  Nita  know?  It  comes;  it  rises  up  to 
my  mind  and  trembles  on  my  lips  before  I  know  the 
words  that  are  spoken.  Mark  you,  senor,  I  have  two 
ways  of  knowing.  I  first  look  into  the  eyes,  and 
.there  I  see  the  soul, —  see  its  joys  and  sorrows,  its 
Aweary  travail  and  happy  hours;  I  see  its  loves  and 
T hates,  and  many  of  the  paths  it  has  taken  the  body, 
and  many  more  it  will  have  to  follow.  As  to  the  hand, 
I  feel,  not  see  its  meaning.  Few  hands  are  so  diffi- 
cult to  read  as  yours,  senor,  for  your  heart  is  locked 
away  in  the  keeping  of  yon  dark  Master  of  Spirits," 
pointing  off,  as  she  spoke,  towards  Professor  von  Marx, 
of  whom  she  still  retained  an  unconquerable  fear;  "but 
with  most  persons  whose  hands  I  touch,  their  modes 
of  life,  past,  present,  and  future,  come  up  with  the 
heart's  blood,  and  thrill  through  my  fingers  just  as  if 
I  could  feel  out  the  words  which  tell  the  tale.  This, 
too,  is  the  way  Marianna  and  Louise"  (alluding  to  two 
other  sibyls  of  her  tribe)  "  tell  fortunes,  senor  mio. 


GHOST  LAND.  163 

Mother  Elsie  is  blind,  you  know,  yet  she  tells  better 
than  all  of  us,  and  she  tells  everything  by  the  touch, 
and  sometimes  when  she  lays  her  withered  hand  on  a 
stranger's  head  or  a  lady's  dress,  or  even  touches  the 
glove  or  handkerchief  that  an  inquirer  has  touched, 
she  knows  just  as  much  as  if  the  whole  story  were 
read  out  from  a  book.  Don't  you  know  this  is  true, 
senor?" 

"  Quite  so,  Juanita.  I  have  tested  this  Mother  Elsie, 
as  you  say,  and  she  can  tell  very  wonderful  truths ;  but 
still  you  have  not  told  me  how  Mother  Elsie  can  do  this, 
or  how  you  can  read  my  life  in  my  eyes  or  feel  it  in  my 
hand.  That  is  what  I  wish  to  know,  Juanita." 

*  Because  Elsie  is  a  Gypsy  and  I  am  a  Zingara, 
senor,"  replied  the  girl,  simply. 

c  You  refuse  to  tell  me  then,  Juanita,"  I  replied,  as- 
suming to  be  piqued  at  her  reticence.  w  I  thought  you 
would  have  told  everything  to  your  friend;  you  prom- 
ised you  would." 

A  passionate  burst  of  tears  and  the  wildest  protesta- 
tions of  devotion,  sincerity,  willingness  to  lay  down  her 
life  to  please  me,  etc.,  followed,  making  me  feel  con- 
demned and  humiliated  for  questioning  the  simple  earn- 
estness of  this  poor,  untaught  child  of  the  forest,  and 
measuring  her  utter  guilelessness  by  my  own  world- 
craft.  It  was  evident  to  me,  as  it  had  become  to  Profes- 
sor von  Marx,  though  he  took  other  means  to  arrive  at  his 
conclusions,  that  these  wanderers  were  naturally  gifted 
with  strong  clairvoyant  and  psychometric  perceptions, 
varying  in  degree,  of  course,  with  their  different  endow- 
ments, and  that  where  these  powers  existed,  they  re- 
sorted to  the  fascinating  gaze,  or  the  touch  of  the  hand, 
merely  as  a  means  of  entering  into  rapport  with,  their 
subjects,  even  as  the  old  woman  above  alluded  to  —  one 


164  GHOST  LAND. 

of  the  most  celebrated  pythonesses  of  her  time  —  found 
the  contact  of  some  object  which  had  been  touched,  nec- 
essary to  open  up  her  psychometric  perceptions.  These 
methods  are  familiar  enough  now  amongst  well-informed 
spiritists ;  but  in  the  earlier  days  of  my  investigations, 
I  was  unceasing  in  my  endeavors  to  find  a  deeper 
philosophy  than  Nature  herself  afforded  me  for  the 
exercise  of  spiritual  powers.  My  search  was  and  ever 
will  be  in  vain.  As  to  the  astrological  lore  existing 
amongst  these  people,  that  still  remained  a  mystery. 
The  possession  of  such  knowledge  involves  scientific 
attainments,  not  natural  endowments ;  and  from  whence 
'they  derived  their  information  except,  as  Juaiiita  insisted, 
by  inheritance  from  their  ancestors,  I  was  at  a  loss  to 
discover. 

The  poor  girl  had  no  more  to  tell,  that  was  evident. 
She  was  beautiful,  intelligent,  and  highly  gifted  beyond 
any  one  that  I  have  ever  met  amongst  her  class. 
Transplanted  into  a  fairer  soil,  she  might  have  graced 
the  royalty  of  a  nation  instead  of  a  tribe  of  vagabonds ; 
but  she  was  a  Zingara,  and  the  laws  of  fate  which  bound 
her  to  her  destiny  were  as  absolute  as  those  which  had 
set  the  ineffaceable  mark  upon  the  first  fratricide.  During 
the  fortnight  we  spent  amongst  her  people,  I  learned 
one  trait  concerning  them  which  merits  more  consider- 
ation than  is  usually  allotted  to  it.  The  gypsies,  as  a 
race,  are  everywhere  acknowledged  to  be  irrepressible 
thieves,  and  their  approach  in  any  neighborhood  has 
proverbially  been  recognized  as  the  signal  for  drawing 
bolts  and  bars  against  their  inroads.  Some  of  their 
biographers  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  assert  that 
they  live  entirely  by  plunder,  and  that  their  assumption 
of  practising  itinerant  trades  and  fortune-telling,  are 
only  so  many  pretences  to  facilitate  their  access  to 


GHOST  LAND.  165 

the  houses  or  pockets  of  the  wealthy.  "Whilst  emphat- 
ically disclaiming  the  character  of  an  apologist  for  this 
distinguishing  feature  of  gypsy  life,  I  must  be  allowed 
to  urge  that  the  people  in  their  innermost  natures 
regard  themselves  as  Ishmaelites,  and  the  whole  human 
family  as  their  natural  enemies.  They  conceive  them- 
selves to  be  in  some  way  outcast  from  their  nation, 
land,  inheritance,  or  place  amongst  men.  Regarding 
mankind  ever  as  their  oppressors,  they  deem  they  are 
as  much  justified  in  plundering  from  the  rich  and  highly 
favored  of  earth,  as  God's  chosen  people  of  old  deemed 
themselves  righteously  employed  in  spoiling  the  Egyp- 
tians. I  learned  this  questionable  piece  of  morality 
through  the  unlimited  confidence  reposed  in  me  by  the 
fair  Juanita,  who  was  better  informed  of  her  people's 
secret  opinions  and  idiosyncrasies  than  any  one  of  her 
generation  perhaps.  I  learned,  also,  that  whilst  they 
dared  not  openly  avow  these  opinions,  they  were  in 
reality  unquestioned  articles  of  faith  with  them,  as 
much  so  as  gratitude  is  towards  those  who  favor  or 
oblige  them. 

I  have  been  repeatedly  assured  that  the  smallest  arti- 
cle of  property  belonging  to  any  person  or  persons  who 
treated  them  well  was  as  safe  and  exempt  from  spolia- 
tion, though  it  lay  in  their  path,  as  if  it  had  been  guarded 
by  bolts  and  bars.  "  Our  honor  and  gratitude  are  the 
best  bolts  and  bars  mankind  can  use  with  the  gypsy 
folk,"  said  one  of  their  old  patriarchs,  in  enlarging  upon 
this  subject;  and  in  truth  they  gave  us  a  practical  proof 
of  their  good  faith,  for  though  Professor  von  Marx  and 
I  had  brought  with  us  some  few  toilet  appendages  of 
value,  and  left  these,  like  our  money,  wholly  unguarded  in 
our  tents,  often  scattering  small  coin  amongst  the  chil- 
dren with  tempting  profusion,  we  never  found  a  single 


166  GHOST  LAND. 

article  touched  or  a  penny  abstracted;  more  than  this, 
we  had  occasion  to  send  several  times  to  the  servant  we 
had  left  at  our  inn,  and  though  the  external  appearance 
of  some  of  our  messengers  would  have  furnished  a  ready 
passport  to  any  jail  in  the  land,  and  our  groom,  accord- 
ing to  order,  frequently  left  them  in  tempting  situations 
for  petty  plunder,  we  never  found  them  fail  in  the  strict- 
est fidelity  to  their  trust,  or  guilty  of  committing  the 
slightest  act  of  peculation  whilst  thus  engaged  in  a  con- 
fidential capacity. 

I  have  already  said  we  had  commenced  our  residence 
in  the  encampment  upon  certain  conditions,  and  I  am 
bound  to  add  that  during  the  whole  period  of  our  stay, 
the  neighborhood  enjoyed  complete  exemption  from  the 
ordinary  predatory  habits  of  the  gypsies,  as  a  strict  fur- 
lough was  observed,  and  not  one  foraging  party  of  an 
illegal  nature  issued  from  our  peaceful  ranks. 

The  evening  at  length  arrived  when  our  Gypsy  life 
was  to  terminate. 

The  Zingari  were  instinctively  aware  of  this,  although 
we  had  made  no  formal  announcement  of  the  fact.  Our 
groom  was  ordered  to  be  in  waiting  with  the  horses  at  a 
short  distance,  and  old  and  young,  from  the  cooking 
crones  to  the  crowing  babies,  hung  around  us  with  a 
half-respectful,  half-sorrowful  fondness,  which  showed 
what  a  depth  of  human  kindness  still  lingered  in  those 
outcast  hearts,  and  how  readily  noble  instincts  and  gen- 
tle sentiments  might  be  enkindled  in  the  rudest  natures 
under  appropriate  influences.  When  all  was  done,  many 
mutual  kindnesses  exchanged,  and  many  slight  presents 
forced  upon  the  youngest  and  oldest  of  the  tribe,  the 
hardest  task  of  all  —  at  least  for  me  —  still  remained. 
~No  word  of  our  intention  to  depart  immediately,  had 
been  spoken  to  the  fair  queen,  whose  stately  form  I 


GHOST  LAND.  167 

silently  pointed  out  to  Professor  von  Marx  as  she  lin- 
gered by  the  river-side,  some  half  mile  distant  from  us, 
gathering  the  wild  flowers  with  which  she  had  been 
accustomed  to  adorn  my  tent.  *  Well,  what  of  her?  " 
asked  the  professor,  brusquely.  Somewhat  confused  by 
this  direct  question,  I  ventured  to  suggest,  in  a  low  voice, 
that  it  might  be  as  well  to  take  advantage  of  her  pre- 
occupation, and  depart  without  further  leave-taking. 

*  What!'"  cried  my  master,  with  an  unusual  burst  of 
merriment,  —  "  steal  a  inarch  upon  our  gypsy  queen  in 
the  fashion  of  deserters,  Louis?  Shame  upon  you  for  so 
recreant  a  proposal!  No,  no;  that  will  never  do.  Be- 
sides, Juanita  is  too  much  of  a  sibyl  not  to  know  that 
the  hour  has  come  when  she  can  sing  her  siren  songs 
no  longer  in  the  ears  of  her  young  Telemachus.  But 
fear  not,  craven  cavalier  as  you  are !  The  gypsy  queen 
will  speed  our  departure,  not  oppose  it." 

KI  think  not,"  I  answered,  with  some  hesitation. 
'*  But  why  this  haste,  father?  Could  we  not  wait  till 
to-morrow?  " 

?  To-morrow! "  rejoined  the  professor,  sternly.  K  To- 
morrow may  be  too  late.  We  have  lingered  too  long 
already.  Know  you  not  that  this  Juanita  is  the  peerless 
beauty  of  her  tribe,  and  that  there  is  not  an  unmated 
youth  in  the  gypsy  universe  who  does  not  look  to  her 
with  some  vague  foreshadowing  that  he  may  yet  secur.e 
her  as  his  especial  prize?  Come  away,  foolish  boy,  and 
that  right  speedily,  unless  you  calculate  to  live,  with  a 
dozen  bullets  in  your  body  from  the  rifles  of  as  many 
vagabond  rivals." 

'  The  bullet  is  not  yet  forged,  my  father,  that  can 
harm  my  life.  My  hour  is  not  come." 

?  Trust  not  too  much  to  destiny,  Louis.  These  half- 
and-half  savages  know  you  bear  a  charmed  life,  but 


168  GHOST  LAND. 

t 

they  are  not  altogether  unacquainted  with  the  arts  of 
*  Gramarie.'  *  Do  you  know  that  some  amongst  them 
have  been  melting  up  the  silver  we  have  been  so  lavish 
in  dispensing,  and  forming  bullets  with  it?  and  do  you 
know  what  silver  bullets  are  used  for  in  the  black  art? 

w  To  destroy  those  whose  lives  are  deemed  invincible 
with  baser  missiles/'  I  replied,  carelessly.  "  I  have  no 
fear;  but  how  did  you  learn  there  was  such  a  murder- 
ous plot  on  foot,  father?" 

w  Oh,  by  using  my  eyes  and  ears,  and  listening  to 
the  voice  of  a  certain  little  bird  called  reason.  But 
come !  we  lose  time.  I  give  you  one  half  hour  to  make 
your  adieux,  —  and  then  for  a  swift  horse  and  a  mid- 
night ride ! " 

A  few  minutes  more  and  I  was  by  the  side  of  Jua- 
nita,  of  whom,  during  this  conversation  I  had  never  lost 
sight,  as  she  gathered  flowers  by  the  river  half  a  mile 
off.  No  one  had  been  near  her  nor  did  she  change  her 
attitude  until  I  reached  her,  when,  stooping  to  address 
her  as  she  sat  on  a  mossy  stone,  she  murmured  in  her 
sweet,  sad  tone,  "  Juanita  will  sing  no  more  siren 
songs  in  the  ear  of  Star-beam.  The  hour  has  come  when 
he  must  go,  and  the  gypsy  queen  will  speed  his  departure, 
not  oppose  it"  The  professor's  very  words!  but  how 
on  earth  could  she  have  heard  them  at  half  a  mile's 
distance?  Then  raising  herself  from  the  ground  and 
slowly  turning  to  gaze  on  the  figure  of  my  master,  who 
still  stood  on  the  hillside  and  in  plain  view,  she  said, 
with  a  stern  pride  peculiar  to  her  lofty  moods,  w  O  cold- 
hearted,  insolent  man  of  the  world!  Dost  thou  then 
think  that  the  gypsy  would  turn  to  sting  the  hand  that 
has  fostered  him?  Dost  thou  know  the  wanderer  so 
little  as  to  deem  that  under  the  shadow  of  his  own  tent 

*  Magical  art,  or  sorcery. 


GHOST  LAND.  169 

he  would  murder,  in  treachery  and  cold  blood,  the  guest 
he  has  broken  bread  with?  " 

"How  is  this,  Juanita?"  I  said,  gravely.  "Do  you 
then  know  that  I  am  in  danger  from  some  of  your  peo- 
ple, and  yet  you  have  not  warned  me  of  it?  " 

"  Danger !  "  cried  the  girl,  fixing  her  full,  fearless  eyes 
upon  me,  with  an  indescribable  expression  of  mingled  ten- 
derness and  reproach.  '<  You,  senor,  in  danger?  Know 
you  not,"  she  added,  sinking  her  voice  again  almost  to  a 
whisper,  "  that  you  bear  a  charmed  life,  and  tliat  tlie  bullet 
is  not  yet  forged  wliicli  can  harm  you?  Your  hour  is  not 
come.  Nevertheless  I  am  not  unmindful  of  what  is 
around  us ;  but  oh ! "  she  cried,  her  voice  raised  to  a  pitch 
of  enthusiasm  and  her  cheek  deepening  to  the  richest  crim- 
son, w  Juanita  has  thrown  around  her  Star-beam  a  spell 
from  which  every  danger  will  fall  away,  and  every  bullet 
will  turn  back  harmless,  save  to  him  who  speeds  it  against 
thee.  My  people  may  pursue  the  sunbeams  that  have 
dazzled  their  poor  eyes,  accustomed  only  to  look  upon 
the  humble  light  of  the  glow-worm ;  they  may,  with  in- 
sensate envy  of  a  beauty  and  nobility  they  can  never 
attain  to,  hunt  for  thee  after  thou  hast  left  behind,  the 
boundaries  which  even  our  rude  hospitalities  make  sacred 
and  which  would  shelter  thee  from  harm,  shouldst  thou 
stay  amongst  us  forever:  but  my  spell  extends  farther 
than  that, — farther  than  the  bullets  of  envy  can  ever 
reach;  and  thou  mayst  go  on  thy  way  harmless  forever 
from  any  wrong  that  Juanita  or  her  people  can  work  thee." 

Poor  Juanita !  I  left  her  with  a  path  in  life  to  tread 
the  more  lonely  and  desolate,  because  the  sun  had 
shone  across  it,  for  once,  all  too  brightly;  a  destiny  the 
more  unendurable  because  glimpses  of  a  better  lot  had 
flashed  like  streaks  of  lightning  before  the  eyes  that 
would  look  on  their  brightness  no  more. 


170  GHOST  LAND. 

Three  days  after  we  had  quitted  the  gypsy  encamp- 
ment a  strange  accident  befel  us.  We  were  wandering 
on  the  shores  of  a  beautiful  lake,  and  had  halted  to  rest 
beneath  the  shelter  of  an  overhanging  precipice,  where 
rugged  projections  shielded  us  from  the  afternoon  sun. 
Just  as  we  had  placed  ourselves  in  reclining  position 
against  the  rocks,  an  immense  mass  from  the  portion 
above  and  beyond  our  heads,  was  suddenly  dislodged,  and 
fell  with  a  tremendous  crash  on  the  pebbly  shore,  bury- 
ing itself  with  enormous  force  to  a  considerable  depth 
in  the  loose  ground  at  our  very  feet,  and  enclosing  us 
in  a  narrow  chasm  between  itself  and  the  rocks  against 
which  we  leaned.  Simultaneously  with  this  astounding 
descent,  a  shower  of  bullets  was  launched  against  us, 
which,  being  intercepted  by  the  descending  mass,  dashed 
upon  it  in  every  direction.  At  the  same  moment  the 
discharge  of  several  rifles  rang  in  our  ears. 

The  whole  of  these  motions  were  so  coincident  one 
with  the  other  that  for  some  time  we  were  unable  to  sep- 
arate and  arrange  each  in  its  proper  order.  When  we 
had  succeeded  in  extricating  ourselves  from  our  newly 
formed  prison  and  took  note  of  the  different  points  of  our 
situation,  we  found  the  following  series  of  striking  coin- 
cidences. The  rock  above  us  had  no  doubt  been  long 
upheld  in  a  very  threatening  position.  Had  we  not  re- 
treated beneath  the  alcove  to  which  it  formed  a  sort  of 
roof,  at  a  certain  moment,  it  must  have  crushed  us  to 
death,  as  we  should  then  infallibly  have  been  standing 
in  the  immediate  line  of  its  descent.  There  in  fact,  we 
had  remained  up  to  the  minute  before  it  fell,  when  the 
inviting  character  of  the  nook  induced  us  to  retreat 
within  its  pleasant  shade.  Yet  again,  it  was  evident 
from  a  comparison  of  the  rifle-sounds  that  we  had  heard, 
and  the  shower  of  bullets  th#t  beat  against  the  descend- 


GHOST  LAND.  171 

ing  rock,  that  but  for  that  friendly  catastrophe,  the  said 
bullets  would  have  found  their  lodgment  in  our  recum- 
bent forms.  That  they  were  aimed  against  us  was  un- 
mistakable from  the  fact  that  nothing  but  the  intervening 
rock  separated  them  from  us,  and  their  flight  could  only 
have  been  directed  at  the  same  instant,  or  possibly  one 
second  earlier  than  the  fall  of  the  rock,  seeing  that  the 
bullets  reached  its  sides  and  surface  at  the  same  moment 
that  it  touched  the  sand. 

"The  bullets  were  evidently  aimed  by  the  hands  of 
assassins,  Louis,"  said  my  master,  after  carefully  inspect- 
ing the  whole  scene. 

"  And  the  rock  thrown  down  by  those  of  our  guar- 
dian angels,"  I  added. 

"Or  the  ?  atmospheric  spirit'  of  the  fair  gypsy  queen, 
perchance,"  said  the  professor,  smiling;  "for  see!  here 
are  the  traces  of  her  subjects'  work,"  gathering  up  and 
showing  me  a  handful  of  the  flattened  bullets,  which 
were  made  of  pure  silver. 

"You  see,  father,"  I  remarked,  "we  bear  charmed 
lives." 

"  Even  so,"  answered  the  professor,  gravely ;  "  but  it 
may  be  as  well  in  future,  to  avoid  visiting  powder  maga- 
zines with  lighted  torches  in  our  hands." 


CHAPTEK  IX. 

THE  LETTER.  —  THE  LIFE  TRANSFER. 

TIME  sped  on,  oh,  how  swiftly!  The  changing  sea- 
sons with  all  their  succession  of  varied  beauty,  alone 
reminded  us  how  protracted  had  been  our  intended 
holiday,  and  how  weeks  had  lengthened  into  months 
since  we  had  determined  to  live — for  a  brief  period  at 
least — for  ourselves  alone  and  revel  in  scenes  of  enjoy- 
ment which  we  each  secretly  believed  were  means  of 
restoration  to  the  health  and  well-being  of  the  other. 

I  love  to  recall  these  wanderings,  for  they  constituted 
the  happiest  period  of  my  life,  and  they  form,  even  now, 
the  oasis  in  a  stormy  wilderness,  around  which  the  most 
cherished  memories  linger. 

Nature  was  to  me  an  ever  new,  ever  wonderful  page 
of  revelation.  At  the  wave  of  my  powerful  master's 
hand,  my  external  senses  would  become  closed,  suffer- 
ing my  liberated  soul  to  go  free  and  my  spiritual  senses 
to  explore  that  wonderful  arcanum  of  life  locked  up  in 
forms,  colors,  odors,  and  sounds,  of  which  the  external 
world  gives  but  the  faintest  reflected  shadow.  With 
clairvoyant  perception  I  beheld  on  every  side,  the  myr- 
iad tongues  of  many-colored  fire  which  played  around 
or  shot  up  from  rocks,  stones,  gems,  crystals,  shells, 
grasses,  flowers, —  in  short,  from  every  form  of  mineral 
or  vegetable  life.  Under  the  wondrous  achromatic 
glass  of  spiritual  sight,  the  life  of  the  universe  became 


GHOST  LAND.  173 

revealed  to  me,  and  I  found  there  was  not  a  blade  of 
grass  or  a  sand  grain,  any  more  than  a  crawling  worm 
or  mighty  man,  that  was  not  vitalized  by  an  element 
which  to  the  sense  of  sight  resembled  flame,  and  which 
in  operation  was  life,  with  its  varied  graduations  of 
power,  eliminating  motion  and  vital  heat.  How  glori- 
ously beautiful  creation  appeared  to  me  under  the  trans- 
figurating  light  of  clairvoyance!  I  ceased  to  wonder 
that  the  ancient  seer  was  a  fire-worshipper,  beholding 
in  all  luminous  bodies  the  deific  principle,  and  in  the 
sun,  as  the  centre  of  life,  light,  and  heat,  the  god  of 
earth,  to  which  his  knowledge  of  the  universe  was 
limited. 

In  addition  to  the  marvellous  powers  of  discernment 
which  clairvoyant  sight  afforded  me,  I  also  realized 
special  faculties  of  perception  through  the  spiritual 
senses  of  touch  and  smell.  Every  thing  in  being  I 
found  to  be  endowed  with  an  individual  character  of 
its  own,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  to  me  that, 
either  by  sight,  smell,  or  touch,  the  human  soul  could 
come  into  contact  with  the  soul  of  things,  and  thus 
recognize  its  special  individuality.  As  sound  could 
only  be  produced  by  the  collision  of  two  bodies  in 
space,  so  the  sense  of  hearing  afforded  a  mixed  revela- 
tion of  two  or  more  characteristics;  hence  I  observed 
that  sound  represented  the  harmonious  relations  of 
things  to  each  other;  sight,  smell,  or  touch,  the  indi- 
vidual character  of  the  thing  itself,  and  its  grade  in  the 
scale  of  creation. 

I  could  at  that  tune  have  readily  made  charts  in  which 
the  universe  of  created  forms,  organic  and  inorganic, 
each  in  its  place  in  the  scale  of  being,  could  have  been 
ranged  under  their  distinctive  shades  of  color,  their 
corresponding  odors,  and  the  density  or  rarity  of  each 


174  GHOST  LAND. 

substance  as  defined  by  touch.  Let  me  add  that  touch, 
like  sound,  was  often  composite  in  its  impressions,  all 
things  in  creation  being  so  liable  to  come  into  contact, 
and  all  things  that  collide  leaving  upon  each  other 
an  appreciable  taint  of  each  one's  peculiar  qualities. 
It  is  thus  that  the  psychometrist  is  able  to  realize  so 
correctly  the  characteristics  which  have  surrounded  or 
come  into  contact  with  any  object  under  examination. 
The  airs  which  sweep  over  the  face  of  the  rock,  charge 
it  with  the  characteristics  of  all  the  elements  that  are  in 
the  atmosphere,  but  organic  life,  and  human  life  in  par- 
ticular, as  the  highest,  most  potential,  and  comprehensive 
of  all  elements,  inheres  most  powerfully  to  the  inanimate 
objects  it  comes  in  contact  with;  hence,  after  some  weeks 
devoted  to  the  culture  of  my  sense  of  touch,  I  found  I 
could  correctly  analyze  the  characteristics  of  every  hu- 
man being  that  had  recently  passed  through  any  room  or 
scene  I  chose  to  examine,  determine  to  a  certainty  the 
mental,  moral,  and  physical  status  of  any  individual 
whose  glove,  handkerchief,  etc.,  was  presented  to  me, 
in  a  word,  "psychometrize"  all  things  in  nature,  and  by 
the  sense  of  touch  alone  realize  their  hidden  qualities  or 
most  secret  potencies. 

I  cannot  commend  these  occult  studies  to  any  one  in 
pursuit  of  happiness  or  contentment.  The  knowledge  I 
enjoyed  was  often  ecstatic,  wonderful,  startling,  and  sug- 
gestive ;  but  where  it  concerned  the  revelation  of  human 
character,  and  dug  up  from  the  mine  of  inner  conscious- 
ness the  secrets  which  were  wisely  hidden  from  ordinary 
view,  the  revelation  was  nearly  always  painful,  serving 
to  expose  to  my  wounded  sight,  petty  meannesses  and 
interior  stains,  which  lowered  human  nature  in  my  eyes 
and  rendered  me  so  painfully  sensitive  to  the  spheres 
and  atmospheres  of  every  place  I  entered  that  I  was 


GHOST  LAND.  175 

obliged  to  put  a  strong  guard  upon  myself,  ere  I  could 
endure  the  revelations  which  public  rooms,  conveyances, 
or  streets  impressed  me  with.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  the 
pain,  sorrow,  and  isolation  which  these  revealments 
brought  me,  there  were  hours  of  unspeakable  recom- 
pense. I  often  beheld  such  sweet  stores  of  natural 
beauty  and  goodness  hid  away  under  unlovely  exteriors 
that  whilst  I  was  on  the  one  hand,  shocked  and  dis- 
couraged, I  would  be  on  the  other  transported  with  the 
discovery  of  the  brightest  mental  gems. 

It  was  this  interior  perception  which  made  me  admire, 
yet  resolute  to  shrink  away  from  the  poor  gypsy  girl.  It 
was  this  which  one  day  wafted  to  my  sense  of  smell  such 
a  perfume  as  is  exhaled  from  a  bed  of  the  choicest  clove 
carnations .  Looking  about  me  to  discover  in  what  human 
form  this  glorious  emanation  originated,  one  which  my 
interior  perceptions  assured  me  must  proceed  from  a 
generous  and  unselfish  nature,  I  traced  its  source  to 
a  poor,  old,  threadbare  street-porter,  who  stood  waiting 
for  employment  at  the  corner  of  the  square  I  was  pass- 
ing through,  and  whose  appearance  was  about  as  un- 
attractive as  any  which  the  motley  city  could  have 
offered.  Determined  to  verify  or  dissipate  my  fancy, 
if  such  it  was,  I  entered  into  conversation  with  this 
person,  and  subsequently  made  many  inquiries  con- 
cerning him.  Generosity,  benevolence,  and  unselfish- 
ness were  the  characteristics  wafted  to  my  spiritual 
sense  from  this  poor  bundle  of  rags  and  wretchedness. 
Take  the  following  description  rendered  me  of  this 
old  man  by  a  tradesman  of  the  neighborhood  who  knew 
him  well. 

TYou  would  scarcely  believe,  sir,  that  yon  forlorn 
old  man  was  once  a  gentleman,  and  quite  wealthy.  He 
had  a  large  family  of  extravagant  sons  and  nephews, 


176  GHOST  LAND. 

upon  whom  he  spent  his  means  so  liberally  that  he 
reduced  himself  to  abject  poverty  on  their  account. 
He  was  so  good  to  the  poor,  too,  sir,  —  ay,  and  he  is 
so  still,  —  that  when  he  gets  a  shilling  he  can  not  keep 
it.  He  runs  errands  now  for  many  a  gentleman  who 
has  sat  at  his  table,  and  who  would  provide  better  for 
him  if  he  did  not  lavish  all  that  is  given  him  on  others. 
He  should  not  be  in  rags,  for  he  often  has  decent  clothes 
given  him,  but  he  will  strip  them  off  his  back  to  give 
to  a  poor  neighbor,  and  go  in  rags  that  he  may  still 
help  his  dissipated  and  profligate  family." 

How  many  sweet  airs  from  the  unknown  paradises  of 
the  human  soul  have  swept  across  my  spiritual  senses  in 
this  manner,  bringing  to  light  hidden  virtues  the  world 
knows  not  of,  and  - —  alas  for  the  per  contra  ! — -how  many 
foul  and  noisome  exhalations  have  warned  me  from  the 
sphere  of  perfumed  fops  and  jewelled  dames,  whose 
attractive  exteriors  concealed  the  rank  weeds  of  vice  and 
base  passions !  I  have  met  in  my  career  with  several  per- 
sons who  partook  of  this  faculty  of  discovering  character 
by  the  sense  of  smell,  —  one  dear  friend  in  particular,  who 
suffered  so  keenly  from  the  involuntary  revelations  this 
subtile  gift  occasioned,  that  she  besought  her  spirit 
guides  to  quench  the  power,  and  remove  from  her  a 
source  of  interior  perception  that  rendered  her  daily 
intercourse  with  her  fellow-mortals  at  times  unendur- 
able. 

When  we  are  known  for  what  we  are,  not  for  what  we 
seem,  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  truth  and  revelation,  we 
shall  find  the  number  of  every  living  creature,  and  in  that 
mysterious  figure  we  shall  discover  the  peculiar  color, 
sound,  smell,  and  touch  which  appertains  to  each,  and 
recognize  that  all  and  each  are  revelations  which  contain 
the  whole  in  the  part;  also  we  shall  learn  that  the  color 


GHOST  LAND.  177 

of  the  odic  light  which  lingers  in  the  photosphere  of 
every  human  being,  the  perfume  which  the  soul  exhales, 
the  mystery  of  the  impression  conveyed  by  the  touch  of 
the  hand,  and  the  tone  which  vibrates  through  the  air  in 
which  we  move  or  breathe,  are  all  exact  revelations  of 
what  we  are  and  who  we  are;  that  all  these  things  are 
known  to  the  angels,  and  can  measurably  be  felt,  if  not 
clearly  defined,  by  every  sensitive  whose  spiritual  percep- 
tions are  more  or  less  unfolded. 

Oh,  wondrous  revelation,  world  of  fairy  lore,  angelic 
teaching,  heavenly  inspiration !  How  blest  and  happy  I 
was  when  living  in  this  unseen  realm,  —  this  universe  of 
shining  truths  and  spiritual  entities !  "Will  these  pages 
ever  fall  beneath  the  piercing  eye  of  spiritual  lucidity? 
If  so,  it  will  discover  how  I  fence  about  the  dividing  line 
wrhich  separates  me  from  this  -period  of  unmixed  happi- 
ness and  the  bitter,  bitter  to-morrow  that  awaited  me. 
One  there  is  who  will  read  these  lines  understandingly, 
and  to  her  deep,  pitying  sympathies  I  appeal,  with  the 
agonizing  cry  of  "Not  yet!  not  yet!  Let  me  linger  a 
while  ere  the  flaming  sword  drives  me  forth  from  the  para- 
dise of  my  vanished  youth  and  early  gleams  of  life-rest." 

Wandering  with  my  much-loved  father  in  woody  dell 
or  over  moorland  wastes,  sometimes  encamping  for  the 
livelong  night  beneath  the  canopy  of  glittering  stars 
and  solemn,  queenly  moon,  within  the  shelter  of  some 
ruined  fane,  through  whose  green,  ivy-mantled  towers 
and  sculptured  arches  the  celestial  lamps  looked  in 
with  soft  and  holy  lustre;  sometimes  reposing  on 
grassy  banks  in  deep  communion  with  the  soul  of 
Mature,  or  stretched  on  yellow  sands  beneath  the  beet- 
ling rocks  that  overhung  the  ever-sounding  sea,  we 
lived  for  a  few  brief  months  on  earth,  yet  not  of  it. 
Sometimes  we  sat  for  hours,  our  open  books  unnoticed, 

12 


178  GHOST  LAND. 

listening  in  deep,  abstracted  mood  to  the  tinkling  stream 
or  hoarse  cascade,  but  ever  recognizing  in  every  sound, 
in  every  voice  of  Mature,  from  the  sighing  breeze  to 
the  crashing  thunder-peal,  the  story  of  creation  sung 
by  unseen  intelligence. 

Happy  days,  and  hours  of  divine  entrancement !  How 
I  love  to  roll  the  misty  veil  of  fading  memory  back, 
and  gaze  again  on  your  sunlit  pictures,  the  bright  real- 
ities of  which  are  fled,  all  fled  forever ! 

Professor  von  Marx  had  been  summoned  to  London 
on  business,  and  as  he  did  not  expect  to  be  absent  more 
than  a  few  days  it  was  agreed  that  I  should  remain  in 
our  quiet  north-country  inn,  from  whence  we  had  pro- 
jected a  tour  into  "Wales.  I  insisted  that  he  should 
take  with  him  our  only  attendant,  and  leave  me  to  the 
enjoyment  of  that  deep,  undisturbed  repose  which  I 
prophetically  felt  was  to  be  the  last  moment  of  hush 
and  stillness  I  should  ever  know  again  on  earth. 

A  few  days  after  his  departure  my  dear  father  wrote 
me  word  that  he  wished  me  to  join  him  in  London,  as 
he  was  likely  to  be  detained  longer  than  he  had  antici- 
pated, and  could  not  endure  to  have  me  absent  from 
him.  I  was  staying  at  a  very  remote  village,  distant 
many  miles  from  the  railroad,  which  there  was  no  means 
of  reaching  except  by  a  stage  or  private  conveyance. 

Having  secured  my  place  in  a  coach  which  was  to 
leave  at  night  and  connect  with  the  train  which  started 
for  London  the  next  morning,  I  proceeded  to  beguile 
the  hours  that  must  intervene  before  I  could  leave,  by  a 
final  ramble  in  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  neighborhood. 

Towards  evening,  some  three  hours  before  that  fixed 
for  my  departure,  I  sat  down  on  the  banks  of  a  winding 
stream,  broken  by  rapids  and  miniature  cascades,  to 
watch  the  glory  of  the  approaching  sunset. 


GHOST  LAND.  179 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  was  a  high  bluff  of 
rocks  which  shut  out  the  land  view  in  that  direction, 
but  away  to  the  west,  hill  and  plain,  valley  and  moor- 
land, were  beginning  to  be  bathed  in  a  flood  of  crimson 
and  purple  radiance  reflected  from  the  glowing  sky. 
"Whilst  my  whole  soul  was  imbued  with  the  soothing 
tranquillity  of  this  lovely  scene,  there  suddenly  crept 
over  me  a  shuddering  chill,  an  indefinable  sense  of 
dread,  which  completely  obscured  the  surrounding 
landscape  and  impressed  me  with  sensations  of  unac- 
countable fear  and  loneliness. 

I  closed  my  eyes  and  leaned  back  against  the  trunk 
of  the  tree  beneath  which  I  was  sitting,  when  a  whirr 
as  of  rushing  wings  sounded  in  the  air,  and  the  hag 
whom  I  had  so  often  beheld  as  the  precursor  of  evil 
tidings,  flashed  before  my  eyes,  and  with  a  mocking, 
gibing  expression,  terrible,  hateful,  fearful  to  behold, 
swooped  close  against  my  face,  and  then  as  suddenly 
swept  on  and  was  gone.  In  a  few  moments  this  well- 
accustomed  yet  ever-terrible  apparition  was  succeeded 
by  a  thought  which  pressed  upon  me  with  overpower- 
ing urgency.  The  letter  which  Professor  von  Marx  had 
given  me  some  months  before,  seemed  to  rise  up  to  my 
mind  in  a  form  so  vivid  that  the  impulse  became  irre- 
sistible to  draw  it  forth  from  the  lining  of  my  vest, 
where  I  had  placed  it  for  special  safety,  and,  holding  it 
in  my  hand,  turn  it  over  and  over  again,  with  a  senti- 
ment of  deep  and  newly-born  interest.  At  this  moment 
it  seemed  to  mo  that  I  heard  a  chorus  of  voices  in  every 
imaginable  tone,  crying,  w  Read  your  letter !  Read  — 
your  —  letter  —  letter!  Bead!  Read!  Read!"  I  knew 
it  wTas  imagination,  and  yet  those  voices  sounded  very 
real  in  my  ears.  Some  of  them  were  hoarse  and  rough, 
others  shrill  and  piercing,  faint,  near,  distant  yet  close. 


180  GHOST  LAND. 

I  was  under  the  influence  of  a  spell,  and  determined 
I  would  break  it.  I  was  about  to  replace  the  let- 
ter in  my  vest  when,  in  the  midst  of  those  weird 
voices  so  uncertain  in  their  origin,  one  I  never  could 
mistake,  one  whose  tones  were  the  echo  of  my  life's 
deepest  meaning,  even  the  voice  of  my  dear  adopted 
father,  repeated  my  name,  calling  to  me  evidently  from 
the  high  bluff  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river. 

Raising  my  eyes  in  amazement  to  this  point  of  view, 
and  in  answer  to  his  again  reiterated  sharp  cry  of 
"Louis,  Louis !  Look  up ! "  I  beheld  Professor  von  Marx 
standing  on  the  very  edge  of  the  rock,  and  leaning 
over  its  rugged  sides  towards  me.  In  equal  astonish- 
ment and  delight  I  responded,  w  Dearest  father !  is  that 
you?  Have  you  then  come  to  fetch  me?  "  Then  rising 
hurriedly  I  looked  about  to  see  in  what  part  of  the 
narrow  river  I  could  find  a  ford  so  as  to  cross  and  join 
him,  but  again  I  was  arrested  by  the  voice  of  the  pro- 
fessor distinctly  pronouncing  these  words :  ''  Open  and 
read  your  letter!  The  voice  most  authoritative  to  you  on 
earth  commands  you.  At  once  !  Now  !  " 

With  such  a  quick,  imperative  wave  of  the  hand  as 
I  had  never  disobeyed,  the  professor  turned  away,  and  I 
saw  his  retreating  form  pass  over  the  heights  and  melt 
away  into  the  gray  horizon.  Perceiving  that  he  was 
going  around  the  hill  in  order  to  cross  the  river  at  a 
rustic  bridge  some  half  a  mile  below  the  spot  where  I 
then  stood,  and  would  soon  join  me,  I,  who  had  never 
yet  questioned  or  resisted  the  commands  of  that  poten- 
tial voice,  resumed  my  seat  against  the  tree,  and  opening 
the  letter  read  the  contents,  which  were  as  follows :  — 

"It  is  now  some  months,  my  Louis,  since  the  vague,  un- 
satisfactory character  of  the  researches  to  which  I  have 
devoted  my  span  of  life  have  begun  to  pall  upon  me,  and 


GHOST  LAND.  181 

strike  like  ice-bolts  into  my  tired  spirit,  freezing  up  its 
energies  and  palsying  its  powers.  The  realm  of  being 
which  alone  responds  to  my  piercing  inquisition  is  too 
embryotic,  and  too  far  beneath  the  perfected  intelligence 
of  man,  to  feed  his  yearning  aspirations  or  furnish  his 
higher  nature  with  healthful  communion.  Dragged  down 
to  merely  rudimental  states,  and  groping  amidst  the  cha- 
otic spheres  of  twilight  intelligence,  I  am  weary,  life- 
sick,  baffled !  When  I  would  reach  higher  and  ascend 
beyond  myself,  my  soul  only  stretches  away  into  the  ocean 
of  the  unfathomable,  where  I  find  no  compass  to  steer  by, 
no  pilot  to  guide  me,  and  whether  I  stand  in  the  gray  mists 
of  a  coming  morning,  whose  sunny  light  shall  yet  dispel 
all  mystery,  or  linger  on  the  edge  of  a  vanishing  day, 
whose  evening  shades  will  deepen  into  a  rayless,  never- 
ending  night,  I  know  not.  I  wander  on  in  the  midst  of  fog 
banks  which  skirt  a  shoreless  sea,  and  the  future  has  now 
become  for  me  a  problem  too  urgent  and  too  terrible  to 
wait  for  longer.  I  must  solve  it  or  perish  eternally.  But 
whilst  my  soul  trembles  on  the  verge  of  the  unknown,  the 
sharpest  pang  it  feels  is  not  for  myself  but  for  you,  child 
of  my  love,  being  upon  whom  my  all  of  heart-love  or 
human  affection  is  anchored !  For  you,  darling  compan- 
ion, whom  I  have  led  into  the  same  unfathomable  abyss 
of  mystery  and  unrest  which  destroys  my  own  peace  and 
almost  wrecks  my  senses.  To  think  that  I  have  guided 
your  young  feet  into  the  wild  and  awful  solitudes  of  un- 
lighted  gloom  in  which  I  am  lost  myself  is  now  my  bit- 
terest thought,  my  keenest  pang  of  self-reproach.  But 
Louis,  spark  of  sunlight!  the  only  one  that  now  sheds 
warmth  or  light  upon  a  starved  and  imprisoned  nature, 
to  you  at  least,  I  can  and  will  make  reparation.  Even 
whilst  I  write  I  know  that  the  end  is  for  me  fast  ap- 
proaching. Louis,  I  am  dying;  and  whether  death  be 


182  GHOST  LAND. 

the  sleep  that  knows  no  waking,  no  return,  the  worm  of 
slow  decay,  or  something  I  cannot  comprehend  of  con- 
tinued life  and  consciousness,  know  it  soon  I  MUST  and 
WILL.  Think  not  I  shall  hasten  the  time  of  this  tremen- 
dous unfoldment  by  the  coward's  act  of  rushing  from 
this  life,  or  shaking  off  the  mortal  coil  so  hard  to  bear. 
3S"o,  I  scorn  self-murder,  nor  will  I  commit  any  act  of 
rash  impatience. 

"  In  one  sense  alone  can  I  speed  the  great  denouement, 
and  that  is  in  acting  out  to  you  my  intended  reparation. 
Louis,  I  WILL  GIVE  MY  LIFE  TO  YOU.  I  am  now  en- 
gaged in  constantly  projecting,  by  the  power  of  my  will, 
the  life  and  force  by  which  I  am,  in  magnetic  tides  upon 
you. 

w  I  know  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  adept  to  part  with 
these  living  waves  and  send  them  ebbing  to  the  shores 
of  another's  life  at  will. 

"In  this  mysterious-  transfer  my  life  can  become 
yours,  my  being  can  incorporate  itself  with  yours,  and 
the  effects  will  be  seen  and  felt  when  I  am  gone,  in  the 
increased  power  and  prime  of  your  noble  manhood  and 
the  enlarged  capacity  of  your  unfolded  spiritual  nature. 
My  strength  shall  supplement  your  gentleness ;  my  pow- 
erful manhood  shall  uphold  your  dependent  youth ;  my 
commanding  force  shall  inspire  your  attractive  beauty; 
and  this  great  and  wonderful  work  is  on  the  very  eve 
of  accomplishment.  The  woof  of  destiny  is  nearly  spun. 
Day  by  day  I  keep  the  force  of  my  will  so  exercised 
upon  you  that  you  can  not,  shall  not  see  the  fading  pro- 
cess of  my  life's  transfer  to  you,  or  note  how  thin  and 
attenuated  the  cord  becomes  which  binds  the  waning 
spirit  to  the  dying  form. 

"In  the  hour  when  the  last  process  of  transfer  is  to  be 
made  my  body  will  be  far  away  from  you.  I  shall  leave 


GHOST  LAND.  183 

you  a  while  alone,  so  that  your  glance  of  tender  pleading 
may  not  recall  me  to  the  life  I  loathe,  or  stay  my  flutter- 
ing spirit  on  the  shores  of  the  mystic  ocean  in  whose 
silent  waves  it  must  sink  forever  or  rise  to  swell  thy 
young  life's  barque  with  the  freight  of  my  new-born 
soul  and  its  resurrected  powers. 

"  I  shall  leave  thee  during  the  process  of  the  mighty 
wrench,  my  darling ;  then  shall  I  gather  up  the  broken 
threads  of  life,  weave  them  into  one  mighty  chain  of 
purpose,  and  throw  the  last  links  around  thy  neck, 
my  Louis,  to  anchor  there  my  liberated  soul.  Louis, 
I  die  that  you  may  live.  To  you  I  give  the  fires 
of  parting  life,  to  you  dispense  the  spirit's  mystic 
breathings.  If  I  live  again,  or  the  essence  of  my  soul 
is  not  all  dissipated  into  viewless  ether,  it  will  be  as  a 
part  of  you.  I  will  my  life  to  you,  whilst  yet  I  can  send 
it  forth  in  living  fires  to  illuminate  the  temple  of  your 
spirit.  I  will  to  you  whatever  may  be  left  of  the  smoul- 
dering flame  when  the  breath  of  the  destroyer  shall  have 
put  it  out  for  me.  Perchance  that  dying  flame  may  yet 
retain  some  spark  of  consciousness,  which,  added  to  your 
own,  shall  vitalize  your  frame,  give  double  manhood  to 
your  character,  clear  from  your  spirit's  eyes  the  scales 
of  earth,  lift  up  your  soul  to  loftier  heights  than  mortal 
ever  reached  before,  and  raise  you  above  those  grovel- 
ling elementary  spheres  in  which  we  have  been  doomed 
to  wander,  to  the  shining  realms  of  sunlike  nature,  in 
which  the  cause  of  causes  must  inhere.  On  earth  fare- 
well, my  loved  one !  When  these  lines  have  met  thine 
eyes  thy  father  will  be  no  more.  Either  thy  soul  and 
mine  must  be  united  in  the  mystic  bonds  of  a  dual  Me, 
or  else  the  fires  of  mine  will  be  extinguished  in  eternal 
darkness.  One  with  thee  or  nothing ! 

"FELIX  VON  MAKX." 


184  GHOST  LAND. 

The  letter  dropped  from  my  palsied  hand.     Grief, 
fear,  doubt,  and  confusion  filled  my  distracted  brain. 

The  sudden  perception  of  my  beloved  friend's  failing 
health,  that  glimpse  of  his  real  condition  which  a  mo- 
ment of  abstraction  on  his  part  had  permitted  me  to 
catch  when  we  were  last  in  London,  that  glimpse  of  a 
possibility  too  dreadful  for  me  even  to  dwell  upon,  yet 
that  which  had  induced  me  to  urge  this  country  tour,  - 
all  this  recurred  to  my  mind  like  a  torrent  overleaping 
its  barriers  and  rushing  in  upon  an  overwhelmed  plain 
with  resistless  force.  At  length  stole  over  me  the  stu- 
pendous reality  that  this  beloved  friend,  this  more  than 
father,  the  master  of  my  life  and  being,  was  no  more. 
By  this  time,  even  at  the  moment  when  I  held  that  aw- 
ful letter  in  my  hand,  he  must  be  dead,  —  or  rather  gone, 
gone  for  ever!  and  oh,  for  what  cause!  Dead  that  I 
might  live!  What  new  and  horrible  mystery  was  in- 
volved in  this  confused  and  wild  idea  of  a  life  transfer? 
At  another  time  this  one  thought  alone  would  have 
swallowed  up  all  others,  and  compelled  me  to  turn  upon 
myself  with  loathing  and  aversion,  —  living  whilst  he 
was  dead !  living  because  he  was  dead !  —  but  now  all 
my  visions  of  the  occult  were  swallowed  up  in  the  one 
tremendous  reality  of  my  irreparable  loss.  Struck, 
stunned,  helpless  as  I  felt,  I  buried  my  face  in  my  hands, 
cast  myself  frantically  down  on  the  grass,  and  gave 
vent  to  the  anguish  of  a  breaking  heart  in  choking 
sobs  and  scalding  tears.  In  the  midst  of  my  frenzied 
grief  it  was  no  surprise  to  me  to  feel  a  gentle  touch  on 
my  shoulder  and  a  caressing  arm  thrown  round  my 
neck.  The  capacity  for  new  emotion  was  dead  within 
me,  and  the  heavens  might  have  been  shaken  down  to 
earth  without  awakening  one  sentiment  of  surprise  or 
adding  to  the  intensity  of  my  feelings.  Yet  I  heard 


GHOST  LAND.  185 

again  his  voice,  the  voice  dearest  to  me  in  creation;  I 
felt  again  his  touch,  the  touch  of  those  lips  through 
which  my  own  life  breathings  seemed  to  have  exhaled. 
That  touch  was  surely  on  my  cheek,  and  I  heard  him 
murmur  in  such  accents  as  recalled  his  hours  of  deep- 
est tenderness,  "  One  with  thee  forever !  Weep  no  more, 
my  Louis.  There  is  no  death !  "  Mechanically  I  raised 
my  streaming  eyes  to  gaze  upon  the  speaker.  A  flash, 
a  radiant  stream  of  light,  the  vision  of  those  dark,  lus- 
trous eyes  fixed  for  a  second  only  on  me,  looking  into 
my  soul ;  then  a  radiant  fire-mist  seemed  to  hover  round 
me;  a  blazing  star  shot  up  from  the  earth  on  which  I 
knelt,  sped  meteor-like  through  the  sunlit  air,  paling  the 
glory  of  the  western  sky,  then  vanished  in  the  heavens 
and  left  me  —  alone ! 

Upspringing  from  the  cold,  dark  earth,  the  sunlight 
gone,  and  a  rayless  night  now  closing  fast  around  me, 
I  sped  to  our  empty  cottage.  I  knew  he  was  not  there. 
He  had  not  been  there, — I  knew  that,  too.  He  would 
never  come  again,  there  or  anywhere. 

A  moment's  pause  to  think  out  where  I  was,  and  then 
I  was  on  the  road  to  London.  Oh,  that  weary  road, 
that  endless  night,  and  the  next  long,  weary  day! 
Changes  there  were  to  make  and  hours  to  be  sped 
away, —  oh !  would  they  never  end? 

Somewhere  upon  that  endless  desert  road  I  left  my 
youth  and  boyhood,  —  left  them  behind  forever,,  and  as 
once  more  I  entered  gray  old  London,  I  returned  a 
man,  matured  in  a  few  short  hours  of  anguish  into 
untimely  manhood. 

The  streets  were  cold  and  empty,  the  night  had 
begun  to  fall,  and  the  dim,  pale  lights  served  only,  as 
it  seemed,  to  show  me  what  a  strange  and  sickening 
void  had  overspread  the  once  gay  city. 


186  GHOST  LAND. 

I  made  my  way  to  what  had  once  been  our  home, 
but  the  familiar  faces  of  the  domestics  who  admitted 
me  had  grown  strange  and  altered  in  my  eyes.  I  asked 
no  questions,  spoke  no  words,  and  none  addressed  me. 
I  think  now,  though  I  scarcely  knew  it  then,  that  some 
one  said,  in  a  low  and  pitying  tone,  "It  is  the  poor 
young  Chevalier.  How  could  he  have  known  it?" 

Mechanically  I  ran  up  the  stairs,  stood  before  the 
door  of  our  common  sitting-room,  and  turned  the  lock ; 
but  I  retreated  without  entering,  for  I  knew  he  was  not 
there.  I  moved  on  to  another  door,  and  now  with 
throbbing  heart  and  finger  pressed  on  my  hushed  lip, 
softly,  softly  I  trod.  Stealthily  I  entered,  —  entered  like 
one  who  feared  to  disturb  a  sleeper.  I  knew  my  step 
would  never  wake  him  more:  he  slept  the  sleep  that 
knows  no  waking.  Something  like  a  praj^er  stole 
through  my  bewildered  brain,  "Would  God  I  were 
sleeping  with  him ! "  Professor  von  Marx  was  dead. 
He  lay  all  cold  and  white,  with  burning  lamps  at  the 
marble  brow  and  stirless  feet,  pale  white  flowers  on 
the  paler  hands,  and  a  frozen  stillness  everywhere. 
Professor  von  Marx  was  dead;  and  yet  a  still  small 
voice,  in  the  well-remembered  accents  of  the  speechless 
dead,  rung  through  the  hush  and  gloom  of  that  solemn 
place,  and  seemed  to  murmur,  "One  with  thee  forever! 
Weep  no  more,  my  Louis.  There  is  no  death!" 


CHAPTEE  X. 

IK   THE   WILDERNESS. 

THERE  is  an  instrument  whose  manifold  uses  few  of 
earth's  children  really  appreciate  until  they  are  com- 
pelled by  necessity  to  use  it.  Should  the  gardener 
desire  to  open  the  earth  for  the  reception  of  the  pre- 
cious seed,  he  takes  this  instrument  to  break  apart  the 
stubborn  clods  withal;  when  the  plant  he  sows  has 
grown  to  be  a  stem,  he  uses  it  to  prune  the  branching 
shoots  and  trailing  tendrils.  The  mineralogist  applies 
it  to  sever  the  rough  quartz  from  the  pure  gold  01 
shape  the  precious  gem.  The  reaper  uses  it  to  cut  his 
sheaves;  the  housewife  to  slice  her  bread;  the  butchei 
to  prepare  his  meat;  the  cook  to  carve  it;  the  surgeon 
uses  it  to  cut,  to  probe,  to  amputate,  to  cure;  the  assas- 
sin uses  it  only  to  kill:  and  thus  from  a  single  blade  of 
steel  all  of  life's  uses  for  good  or  ill  may  be  evolved ;, 
nay  more;  these  multitudinous  uses  can  not  be  per-1 
formed  without  it,  and  though  in  one  single  instance  it 
may  kill  in  the  hands  of  crime,  the  knife  that  prunes 
and  trims,  dissects  and  amputates,  and  ministers  to 
every  form  of  art  and  science,  may  surely  be  esteemed 
as  very  good,  even  if  its  name  is  "  sorrow."  And  yet  it 
takes  a  life  of  many  bitter  trials  to  realize  the  manifold 
uses  of  this  same  keen  knife,  sorrow!  I  know  this 
lesson  now,  though  it  has  cost  me  many  a  year  to  learn 
it.  I  did  not  know  it  as  I  sat,  a  helpless,  lonely  being, 


188  GHOST  LAND. 

more  than  a  child  in  years,  but  far  less  than  a  man  in 
self-reliance,  beside  the  silent,  rigid  form  of  him  that 
had  been  my  idol,  my  very  life,  my  more  than  self,  the 
inspiration  that  had  made  me — anything!  I  had  been 
in  the  presence  of  death  many  times  before,  and  de- 
spite all  the  lessons  of  the  Brothers,  tending  to  render 
me  callous  to  the  sight,  it  had  always  aifected  me  pain- 
fully, depressing  me  physically,  and  filling  my  mind 
with  a  sense  of  blank  mystery  which  derived  no  satis- 
faction from  the  doctrines  of  annihilation  insisted  on  by 
my  philosophic  associates;  but  when  the  subject  of 
these  revulsive  emotions  was  my  more  than  father,  O 
Heaven!  as  I  look  back  now  on  the  dumb  anguish  of 
that  terrible  hour,  the  hour  I  passed  in  such  awful  still- 
ness and  mystery  with  the  best  beloved  of  my  life,  I 
pity  myself,  and  could  almost  weep  for  the  miserable 
being,  then  too  deeply  sunk  in  despair  to  weep  for  him- 
self. But  at  length  that  dreadful  hour  of  silent  watch- 
ing ended ;  with  its  close,  two  fixed  ideas  took  possession 
of  my  mind :  the  first  was  that  Professor  von  Marx  was 
no  more,  —  utterly,  irretrievably  dead  and  gone,  gone 
forever;  the  next,  that  I,  too,  must  die,  for  life  without 
him  would  not  be  wretchedness  merely,  to  me  it  seemed 
an  impossibility. 

Accustomed  to  act  upon  rapid  flashes  of  thought,  the 
future  with  all  its  bearings  seemed  mapped  out  before 
me  the  moment  I  roused  myself  to  quit  the  chamber  of 
death.  My  spiritualistic  readers  may  question  why  I 
did  not  derive  hope  and  comfort  from  the  vision  which 
had,  in  the  semblance  and  tones  of  my  beloved  friend 
himself,  apprised  me  of  his  decease.  I  answer,  I  could 
not  at  that  time  derive  either  hope  or  consolation  from 
such  a  visitation.  Facts  make  their  impression  on  the 
mind  in  proportion  to  its  tendencies  and  receptivity  for 


GHOST  LAND.  189 

special  ideas.  My  mind  had  been  bent  into  materialistic 
forms  of  belief.  I  had  been  constantly  censured  for 
indulging  in  any  of  the  w  vagaries  "  of  religious  aspira- 
tion; taught  to  regard  immortality  as  the  attribute  of 
the  elements  only,  and  the  apparitions  of  the  dead,  like 
those  of  the  living  spirit,  as  magnetic  emanations  from 
the  body,  which  might  subsist  for  a  brief  period  after 
death,  but  which  could  maintain  no  continuous  being 
when  once  the  body  became  broken  up  by  the  process 
of  natural  disintegration.  Even  the  many  flashes  of 
wondrous  light,  irradiated  as  they  were,  too,  with  intel- 
ligence, which  had  appeared  to  me  in  the  semblance  of 
the  beautiful  Constance,  I  had  been  taught  to  regard  as 
subjective  images  only,  projections  from  my  own  fervid 
imagination,  taking  shape  in  the  w  astral  light,"  where 
the  impressions  of  all  things  that  ever  had  been,  remained 
imperishably  fixed.  This  was  my  creed  at  the  time  when 
I  silently  stole  down  the  stairs  leading  from  the  death- 
chamber,  and  passed  out  into  the  quiet  street.  It  was 
deep  night  in  London.  A  pale  spring  moon  shone  fit- 
fully through  the  rifts  and  rents  of  a  stormy  sky.  The 
air  was  chill  and  blighting,  and  my  neglected  attire  was 
not  calculated  to  protect  me  against  the  damp,  chill 
winds  which  moaned  around  me.  I  was  all  alone  on 
earth,  for  though  dim  memories  of  friends  and  kindred 
flitted  through  my  mind,  they  were  all  shut  out  by  the 
one  engrossing  thought  of  him.  A  vague  idea  possessed 
me  that  some  one  on  earth  might  be  sorry  for  my  loss 
and  miss  me ;  but  I  could  not  centralize  this  idea  on  any 
one  in  particular,  save  on  him,  and  he  was  gone. 

Professor  von  Marx  had  succeded  so  far  in  filling  up 
my  whole  being  with  himself  that  I  perceived  nothing 
real,  nothing  tangible  in  existence  but  his  image;  and 
now  that  he  was  no  more,  quenched,  nothing,  —  what 


190  GHOST  LAND. 

remained  for  me  but  to  become,  like  himself,  no  more, 
quenched,  nothing?  "With  a  rapidity  truly  astonishing 
to  those  who  have  not  studied  the  philosophy  of  extraor- 
dinary mental  states,  I  ran  over  the  different  methods  by 
which  I  might  arrive  at  the  bitter  end,  but  I  rejected 
at  once  all  that  might  incur,  even  for  my  worthless 
remains,  publicity  or  curiosity.  I  would  not  be  pitied 
or  mouthed  at,  speculated  over  or  talked  about.  In 
my  utter  desolation,  I  shrank  even  from  the  possibility 
of  human  sympathy  or  contact  with  pitying  mortals 
when  I  was  dead.  I  would  hide  away,  die  in  secret, 
where  none  could  find  me.  I  finally  determined  I  would 
starve  myself  to  death,  and  thus  gain  time  to  see  the 
world  passing  away  and  myself  fading  out  of  time 
before  I  was  launched  upon  that  ocean  of  oblivion, 
which  had  swallowed  up  my  better  self.  One  more 
thought  of  him  I  permitted  my  mind  to  indulge  in  ere 
I  abandoned  myself  to  my  fate.  Strange 'to  say,  that 
thought  was  not  one  of  tenderness  or  regret:  it  was 
a  sentiment  of  reproach,  —  reproach  that  one,  to  whose 
mighty  will  destiny  itself  seemed  to  bow  down,  should 
have  thus  forsaken  me ;  or  rather  I  inwardly  questioned 
why  he  did  not  take  me  with  him,  —  he  who  so  loved 
me,  he  who  alone  of  all  mankind  could  understand  me ! 
It  was  but  a  few  short  weeks  ago  that,  in  his  half- 
dreamy,  half-satirical  way,  he  had  affected  to  predict  for 
me  a  splendid  destiny.  ?  Young,  rich,  and  handsome 
Louis ! "  he  said.  "  Youth,  wealth,  and  beauty,  —  are  not 
these  the  conquering  graces  before  which  the  world  bows 
down?"  Alas!  alas!  Did  he  even  then  contemplate  cast- 
ing me  on  the  world,  reliant  on  those  adventitious  aids 
to  guide  the  stumbling  feet  that  he  had  led  so  blindly? 
With  what  a  strange  mixture  of  anguish  and  bitterness 
did  the  memory  of  those  cold,  speculative  words  return 


GHOST  LAND.  191 

to  me  now !  Oh !  did  he  know  me  then  so  little  as  to 
deem  that  'any  possessions  could  be  aught  to  me  when 
he  was  gone?  Gone!  Ay!  that  was  the  word  that  put 
all  questioning  to  rest  forever.  On  I  sped,  —  past  the 
quiet  rows  of  houses  and  through  the  silent  streets; 
on  through  miles  of  dreary  suburbs,  where  the  ugli- 
ness of  waste  places  and  half-built  roads  became  soft- 
ened in  the  gloom  of  midnight;  on  through  lanes  and 
fields,  —  I  scarce  knew  where,  yet  by  an  instinct  that 
seemed  to  propel  my  eager  steps,  I  pursued  my  way 
until  I  had  left  the  city  and  all  its  hateful  wilderness 
of  slumbering  life  behind,  and  penetrated  to  the  woods 
that  skirted  the  north  of  London.  I  believe  I  was 
traversing  one  of  those  suburban  districts  known  as 
Hampstead  or  Highgate.  I  had  been  driven  there 
some  months  before,  and  was  greatly  attracted  by  the 
beauty  and  retirement  of  those  woody  heights,  which 
at  the  time  I  write  of,  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  were 
almost  in  the  country. 

I  had  no  idea  of  the  distance  I  must  traverse  to  reach 
that  spot,  or  the  direction  in  which  I  should  go,  yet  I 
wished  to  be  there;  and  ere  the  deep  pall  of  night 
yielded  to  the  gray  dawn  of  morning,  I  had  attained 
my  goal,  and  sinking  on  the  ground  beneath  the  shadow 
of  a  deep  and  almost  pathless  wood,  I  felt  as  if  I  had 
arrived  at  my  last  earthly  home.  Being  unaccustomed 
to  steady  walking  for  any  great  distance,  the  excessive 
fatigue  I  had  undergone,  no  less  than  the  stunned  con- 
dition which  succeeded  to  the  anguish  of  the  preced- 
ing hours,  induced  a  deep  sleep,  from  which  I  did  not 
awaken  till  the  sun  was  high  in  the  heavens,  so  high 
indeed,  that  I  perceived  the  day  must  be  far  advanced. 

Unlike  most  persons  who  awake  from  the  first  sleep 
that  succeeds  some  mighty  sorrow  to  a  gradual  con- 


192  GHOST  LAND. 

sciousness  of  the  truth,  I  awoke  at  once  to  the  mental 
spot  from  which  I  had  sunk  to  sleep.  There  might 
have  been  but  one  intervening  second  between  the  great 
agony  with  which  I  lay  down  and  arose  again,  to  take 
up  the  burden  just  where  I  had  dropped  it. 

Instinctively  noting  the  features  of  the  place  where  I 
had  sought  shelter,  I  perceived  it  was  not  the  deep  re- 
tirement I  desired  to  find.'  .The  woods  were  thick  'tis 
true,  but  they  resembled  more  a  grove  of  trees  whose 
pleasant  shade  might  attract  suburban  loungers  to  my 
retreat  than  a  lonely  spot  where  a  hunted  hare  might 
die  in  peace.  That  was  no  place  for  me ;  and  quick  as 
the  thought  occurred,  the  action  followed  on  it.  I 
started  from  the  ground  and  determined  to  make  my 
way  yet  farther  on,  —  on  to  a  safer  solitude,  one  where 
no  wandering  foot  of  man  might  track  me.  I  arose 
stiff,  weak,  and  weary.  At  first  I  could  scarcely  drag 
my  tired  limbs  from  the  spot  where  I  had  lain;  but  as  I 
moved,  I  gained  elasticity  of  limb,  and  strengthened  by 
my  will  and  feverish  purpose,  I  walked  on  for  several 
hours,  walked  on  in  fact,  till  night  again  overtook  me, 
I  passed  through  many  pleasant  places,  country  roads, 
and  shady  lanes.  I  left  behind  me  handsome  villas, 
nestling  cottages,  and  homes  where  happy  people  seemed 
to  dwell,  where  children's  voices  and  merry  village  tones 
resounded  through  the  air.  I  passed  them  all,  like  a 
spectre  as  I  was,  shrinking  from  sight,  sound,  or  com- 
panionship. The  very  echo  of  a  human  voice  drove  me 
away. 

Some  wretched  tramps  in  fluttering  rags,  with  lean 
and  hungry  faces,  passed  me  on  the  road,  and  looked 
wistfully  into  my  face.  An  old  and  white-haired  man, 
with  very  threadbare  clothes,  was  tottering  on  amongst 
them,  and  fixed  on  me  a  pleading  glance.  One  human 


GHOST  LAND.  193 

feeling  still  remained  within  my  seared  heart,  prompt- 
ing me  to  throw  my  purse  amongst  them.  How  glad 
they  seemed!  How  I  hastened  on  with  wavering  steps 
to  escape  from  their  noisy  thanks !  Did  they  know  that 
the  youth  "  so  young,  so  rich,  so  handsome,"  looked  upon 
them,  so  old,  so  poor,  so  hideous,  in  their  rags  and  pov- 
erty, and  sighed  to  think  he  was  not  one  amongst  them? 
Undoubtedly  they  belonged  to  each  other.  There  were 
fathers,  sons,  and  brothers  there  perhaps;  friends  at 
the  least  they  must  be.  But  who  and  what  was  I? 
Father,  brother,  friend,  —  all,  all  were  gone  for  me. 

On,  on  I  sped, — on  till  night  again  overtook  me.  On 
the  banks  of  a  deep  and  sullen  river  I  reached  a  thick 
and  extensive  wood.  Pushing  my  way  through  the 
tangled  underwood,  a  few  steps  brought  me  to  a  deep 
and  rugged  dell,  whose  gloomy  depths  seemed  as  if 
they  had  never  been  traversed  by  human  feet.  The 
solitude  and  utter  desolation  of  this  wild  haunt  were  all 
I  sought. 

Here  I  would  stop  and  wait  for  the  destroyer.  An- 
other long,  long  night,  but  not  as  before  a  restful  one. 
Aching  in  every  limb  and  racked  with  feverish  thirst,  I 
spent  that  weary  night  in  pain  unutterable.  The  morn- 
ing came,  and  with  it  a  new  and  strange  sensation.  The 
gnawing  pangs  of  hunger  now  beset  me.  It  was  two 
days  and  nights  since  I  had  tasted  a  morsel  of  food,  and 
this  sensation  of  racking  hunger  was  something  new 
and  urgent.  I  knew  it  was  a  part  of  the  programme, 
a  scene  in  the  drama  I  had  set  myself  to  enact;  but  I 
had  not  considered,  for  indeed  I  did  not  know,  how  pain- 
ful it  would  prove. 

As  the  sensation  deepened,  my  spirit  seemed  to  pass 
out  in  the  old  familiar  way  and  take  note  of  many  dis- 
tant scenes,  but  only  of  those  where  hungry  people  were. 

13 


194  GHOST  LAND. 

I  saw  none  but  those  who  were  hungry,  because  I  sup- 
pose I  was  attracted  to  no  others.  I  saw  beggars,  little 
children,  old  men  and  women;  poor  laborers  who  had 
nothing  to  eat,  and  would  not  have  till  a  long  day's 
work  was  done.  All  were  hungry,  sad,  and  sullen.  I 
saw  those  English  work-houses  where  the  wretched  in- 
mates were  always  hungry,  besides  a  great  many  little 
children  who  looked  eagerly  and  longingly  into  the  shops 
where  provisions  were  kept.  Many  a  little,  emaciated, 
pale  creature  I  saw  crying  for  bread ;  and  besides  these, 
my  unresting  spirit  seemed  drawn  as  by  a  spell  to  the 
interior  of  wretched  huts,  up  to  roofless  garrets,  and 
down  into  noisome  cellars,  where  miserable  people  lin- 
gered,— people  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages;  but  all  were, 
like  me,  so  very  hungry !  All  of  them  had  little  or  noth- 
ing to  eat;  and  the  multitudes  I  saw  thus,  seemed  to  me 
to  be  more  in  number  than  I  had  deemed  of  the  whole 
human  race.  It  was  a  ghastly  yet  wonderful  sight  this, 
and  awful  to  know  that  in  one  vast,  rich,  and  mighty 
^city  were  hungry  wretches  enough  to  constitute  a  nation. 
Presently  I  began  to  speculate  upon  the  different 
effects  which  this  one  great  pang  produced  on  different 
people.  Some  of  those  whom  I  gazed  upon  were 
merely  restless,  then  fretful,  irritable,  angry,  sullen, 
savage:  all  these  were  stages  in  the  great  woe,  but 
only  the  first  stages.  The  next  was  a  fierce,  wild  crav- 
ing, and  after  that  the  natures  of  these  hungry  ones 
became  wild  and  brutal,  whilst  all  the  nervous  force,  of 
the  system  concentrated  about  the  epigastrium,  and  then 
they  were  all  hunger,  just  as  I  was  all  despair.  Kind- 
ness, pity,  shame,  honesty,  and  virtue, —  all  were  merged 
in  the  intolerable  sense  of  urgent  hunger;  but  this  was 
an  advanced  stage  of  the  pang,  and  was  very  terrible  to 
witness. 


GHOST  LAND.  195 

The  physiological  conditions  of  these  people  too, 
were  opened  to  my  clairvoyant  vision  as  I  flitted 
amongst  them,  a  phantom  drawn  to  them  by  the  irre- 
sistible ties  of  sympathy.  Had  I  been  at  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  and  there  existed  but  one  hungry  creature  at 
its  centre,  I  should  have  been  infallibly  drawn  to  that 
one,  so  potential  is  the  strength  of  spiritual  sympathy. 
How  strange,  yet  orderly  and  strictly  natural,  I  found 
to  .be  the  routine  which  ensues  in  hungry  systems! 
First  there  was  the  sense  of  demand,  the  want  which 
a  craving  stomach  makes  known  to  the  intelligence,  for 
the  sake  of  its  own  repair.  Then  came  the  mustering 
of  the  gastric  and  salivary  juices,  promoted  by  the 
thought  of  food.  These  secretions  flowed  in  tidal  cur- 
rents to  the  salivary  glands  and  gastric  follicles,  and  if 
there  was  nothing  to  act  upon,  they  began  to  dry  up 
and  become  inflamed,  and  this  it  was  that  produced 
that  gnawing  sense  of  pain  which  attended  the  first 
stages  of  hunger,  and  communicated  to  the  nerves  an 
intense  degree  of  irritability.  In  the  next  stage  I  per- 
ceived that  the  mucous  membrane  lining  the  digestive 
apparatus  was  in  a  measure  consuming  itself;  also  I 
saw  how  the  entire  force  of  the  nervous  system  mus- 
tered to  the  point  of  suffering,  and  manifested  sympathy 
with  the  epigastric  regions. 

Hour  after  hour  I  traced  by  involuntary  but  inevita- 
ble clairvoyance  the  entire  progress  of  this  ghastly  phe- 
nomenon, want,  acting  upon  hundreds,  ay,  thousands 
of  victims  in  and  about  the  happy,  well-fed,  rich,  and 
splendid  Babylon  of  the  world,  —  London.  I  noticed  as 
a  curious  fact  in  the  physiological  results  of  starvation 
that  whilst  the  tissues  of  the  body  generally,  wasted, 
dried,  and  consumed  themselves,  the  nerves  never 
wasted,  never  failed;  on  the  contrary,  their  power  of 


196  GHOST  LAND. 

sensation  grew  more  and  more  acute  with  every  mo- 
ment's bodily  pang.  Still  more,  I  perceived  that  the 
ganglionic  nerves  which  supplied  the  nutritive  system 
attracted  to  its  aid  the  force  of  the  cerebro-spinal  nerves, 
so  that — mark  it  well !  —  there  could  be  little  or  no  other 
sensation  than  that  which  arose  from  the  intolerable 
sense  of  hunger  and  thirst;  and  thus  it  was  made  plain 
to  me  why  poor  wretches  under  the  influence  of  this 
sharp  pang  are  rarely  moral,  kind,  or  gentle.  The  ner- 
vous force  which  should  be  distributed  through  the  intel- 
lectual and  emotional  regions  being  all  absorbed  by  the 
fierce  cravings  of  the  digestive  system,  there  can  be 
no  operation  for  the  affections,  the  reason,  or  the  morals. 
And  yet  again  let  me  pause  and  remark  upon  another 
singular  and  noteworthy  revealment  of  these  clairvoyant 
wanderings.  I  saw  the  entire  chain  of  connection 
between  the  brain  and  every  fibre  of  the  body;  noted 
how  conclusively  motion  and  sensation,  waste  and 
repair,  were  all  represented  on  the  brain,  and  I  marvelled 
why  no  brain  metre  had  as  yet  been  invented,  first  as  a 
means  of  detecting  disease  in  remote  parts  of  the  system, 
and  next  as  a  gauge  by  which  physical  conditions  could 
determine  corresponding  states  of  the  mind.  In  the 
starving  miserables  from  whom  all  the  nervous  force  was 
abstracted  from  the  brain  to  the  stomach,  there  were  no 
cranial  nerves  in  operation,  save  the  pneumagastric,  and 
these  acting  upon  the  surrounding  fibres  in  the  cere- 
bellum, necessarily  prompted  the  appetite  to  revenge, 
destructiveness,  acquisitiveness,  and  all  the  lower  animal 
instincts. 

Me  thought  had  I  been  destined  to  a  continuous  life,  I 
should  forevermore  have  felt  the  deepest  sympathy  for 
the  poor  and  hungry.  I  pictured  to  myself  how  glad  I 
should  have  been  to  have  fed  the  ghastly  multitudes 


GHOST  LAND.  197 

I  saw,  and  how  unreasonable  it  was  for  society  to  expect 
gentleness,  piety,  humility,  and  kindness,  where  the  gaunt 
demons  of  want  and  poverty  held  their  sway. 

Would  that  every  legislator  in  the  lands  of  civilization 
could  have  shared  the  perceptions  of  my  wandering 
spirit  in  those  dreary  hours  of  suffering !  Surely  one 
great  change  would  ensue  in  the  laws  of  nations,  making 
it  a  crime  in  legislation  to  permit  any  human  being  in 
the  realm  to  go  hungry,  whilst  for  any  citizen  to  die  of 
starvation  should  be  a  blot  sufficient  to  expunge  the  land 
where  it  occurred  from  the  list  of  civilized  nationalities. 
I  think  it  must  have  been  towards  the  sixth  or  seventh 
day  of  my  terrible  probation  that  the  character  of  my 
wanderings  changed.  I  had  lost  count  of  time,  and 
being  racked  by  intolerable  thirst,  I  thought  I  might 
assuage  that  dreadful  craving,  and  yet  not  prolong  much 
my  hours  of  torture.  I  made  out  then,  to  stagger  to 
the  edge  of  the  river,  and  by  dipping  boughs  of  trees 
into  the  water,  and  laying  my  burning  head  upon 
them  or  applying  them  to  my  lips,  I  found  the  fearful 
sense  of  thirst  in  some  measure  allayed.  It  was  so 
soothing  to  bathe  my  hands  thus  in  the  cool  river  thai 
I  lay  down  very  close  to  it,  and  but  for  fear  some 
one  might  find  and  recognize  the  poor  remains  floating 
on  its  surface,  gladly  would  I  have  made  it  my  winding- 
sheet,  and  thus  have  ended  the  awful  struggle  at  once. 
Firm  to  my  proposed  plan,  however,  I  contented  myself 
with  the  luxury  of  the  dripping  boughs,  and  when  I 
found  sleep  overtaking  me,  I  crept  back  again  to  the 
shelter  of  the  secluded  dell.  I  believe  there  were  sev- 
eral heavy  storms  of  rain  and  hail,  drenching  the  ground 
and  adding  racking  pains  to  my  fast  stiffening  limbs, 
but  my  resolve  never  failed,  though  physical  tortures 
began  to  increase  upon  me.  A  time  came,  however, 


198  GHOST  LAND. 

when  these  terrible  pangs  became  subdued,  indeed  at 
times  I  almost  forgot  them;  besides,  let  me  add,  the  sense 
of  hunger  I  endured,  unlike  that  which  afflicted  the 
poor,  was  voluntarily  incurred.  I  bore  my  sufferings 
willingly,  because  I  did  so  in  the  hope  of  release  from 
still  greater  misery.  The  sentiments  of  rage,  envy,  indig- 
nation, and  bitterness,  which  would  add  such  additional 
anguish  to  the  pains  of  hunger  in  the  starving  poor, 
were  not  present  in  my  case ;  on  the  contrary,  every  pang 
that  racked  me  was  a  response  to  my  insatiate  yearning 
to  die  and  be  at  rest. 

But  I  have  said  there  came  another  change,  and  this 
it  was.  With  the  last  minimum  of  my  strength  I  had 
collected  and  surrounded  myself  with  dripping  boughs 
dragged  through  the  cool  river,  and  on  these  and  my 
handkerchief,  steeped  in  water  and  pressed  to  my 
parched  lips,  I  laid  myself  down  in  the  deepest  recess 
of  the  wood  I  could  find,  to  take  my  last,  long  sleep. 
Then  it  was  that  a  sweet  and  restful  sense  of  dying 
stole  over  me.  Bright  and  wonderful  visions  too, 
gleamed  before  my  eyes.  In  every  department  of 
being  I  saw  the  spirits  of  nature.  With  involuntary 
lucidity  I  gazed  down  into  the  earth  beneath  me,  and 
beheld  whole  countries  peopled  with  grotesque  forms, 
half  spiritual  and  half  material,  resembling  in  some 
respects  the  animal  and  human  kingdom,  but  still  they 
were  all  rudimental,  embryotic,  and  only  half  formed. 
I  saw  the  soul-world  of  earths,  clays,  metals,  minerals, 
and  plants.  In  those  realms,  were  beings  of  all  shapes, 
sizes,  and  degrees  of  intelligence,  yet  all  were  living 
and  sentient.  Everywhere  gleamed  the  sparks  of  intel- 
ligence, the  germs  of  soul,  semi-spiritual  natures,  clothed 
with  semi-material  bodies  corresponding  to  the  varieties 
of  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  kingdoms,  with 


GHOST  LAND.  199 

all  their  infinite  grades  of  being.  Some  of  these  spirits 
of  nature  were  shining  and  beautiful,  like  the  gems 
and  metals;  some  coarse  and  unlovely,  like  the  earths 
and  roots;  all  were  endowed  with  some  special  gift 
corresponding  to  the  plane  of  being  which  they  repre- 
sented. In  moistening  my  hands  and  face  with  the 
dripping  boughs  I  seemed  to  be  brought  into  rapport 
with  the  countless  myriads  of  watery  spirits,  and  through- 
out all  departments  of  elemental  life,  recognized  a  sort  of 
caricature  representation  of  the  births,  deaths,  kindreds, 
families,  associations,  and  wars  that  pervaded  the  human 
family.  Later  on  in  time,  though  how  long  I  never  knew, 
I  saw  sweet  and  lovely  lands  filled  with  a  sweet  and 
lovely  people  mirrored  in  the  shining  air  and  nestling 
amidst  the  flowers  and  grasses;  in  fact  the  air  became 
translucent  to  me.  I  saw  immense  realms  filling  up  the 
spaces  of  our  gross  atmosphere,  which  were  permeated 
with  a  wonderful  number  of  countries,  each  formed  of 
finer  and  more  sublimated  vapors,  gases,  aromal  essences 
and  ethers  than  the  other.  In  some  of  these  realms, 
the  flowers,  bloom,  and  essences  of  earth,  became  spir- 
itual emanations,  which  crystallized  into  far  rarer  and 
more  beautiful  flowers,  blossoms,  and  airs  than  any 
which  earth  could  display. 

The  lower  strata  of  these  aerial  regions  were  filled 
with  very  small,  sometimes  grotesque,  but  generally 
beautiful  people.  Some  of  them  were  no  taller  than 
the  daisies  and  buttercups  of  the  field,  some  were  as 
high  as  the  bushes,  and  some  towered  up  to  the  tops  of 
the  forest  trees.  Most  of  them  were  fragrant,  flower- 
loving,  merry  beings,  whose  incessant  habit  of  singing, 
dancing,  leaping,  and  sporting  in  the  sunbeams,  filled 
me  with  joy.  Many  of  these  were  short-lived  races 
bubbling  up  with  the  ecstacy  of  a  life  which  began  and 


200  GHOST  LAND. 

ended  with  the  power  of  the  sunbeam;  others  lived  long 
vegetable  lives  of  many  centuries,  haunting  the  woods, 
groves,  and  forests,  and  seemed  especially  interested  in 
all  that  belonged  to  sylvan  lives  and  pursuits.  I  again 
repeat  that  all  these  elementary  tribes  were  divided  off 
into  different  strata  of  atmosphere,  or  inhabited  different 
parts  of  earth,  filling  every  space  from  the  centre 
to  the  circumference,  where  new  planetary  existences 
commenced.  All  were  endowed  with  varying  degrees 
of  intelligence,  special  gifts,  powers,  and  graduated 
tones  of  life  and  purpose,  and  all  appeared  to  me  first  as 
a  spark,  spear,  tongue,  or  globe  of  light,  pale,  ruddy, 
blue,  violet,  or  of  different  shades  of  the  primal  hues, 
and  all  at  length  assumed  the  forms  of  pigmies,  giants, 
plants,  annuals,  or  embryotic  men,  according  to  the  par- 
ticular grade  they  occupied  in  the  scale  of  creation,  or 
the  tribe,  species,  and  kingdom  to  which  they  corre- 
sponded. 

I  learned  many,  many  things  of  the  immensity  and 
variety  of  being  which  seem  either  impossible  to  trans- 
late into  human  speech  or  which  "  are  not  lawful  to 
utter."  I  perceived  that  HEAT  WAS  LIFE,  FLAME  ITS 

SUBSTANCE,  AND   LIGHT   ITS   MAOTFESTATIOlSr.      I  mused 

upon  the  contending  theories  of  the  philosophers  con- 
cerning the  sources  of  light  and  heat,  and  I  know  now, 
though  .perchance  I  might  never  be  able  to  prove  my 
knowledge,  that  the  true  source  of  light  and  heat  were 
in  the  life  and  restless  motion  of  the  living  beings  that 
pervade  the  universe.  The  thought  struck  me,  re- 
flected from  the  teachings  of  conventionalism,  that  the 
sun  must  be  the  source  of  all  the  light  and  heat  that 
permeates  the  solar  system.  Directly  the  shadows  of 
this  opinion  crossed  my  mind,  my  spirit  was  lifted  up 
into  the  spheres  of  responsive  truth,  and  lo!  instantly 


GHOST  LAND.  201 

the  sun  became  revealed  to  me  like  an  orb  of  molten 
gold.  Oh,  what  a  wonderful  and  glorious  sight  this  world 
of  ecstatic  being  presented  to  me!  I  beheld  it  full  to 
repletion  of  swelling,  glittering  seas,  rivers,  fountains, 
lakes,  and  streams,  all  dancing  in  the  radiance  of  many- 
colored  illuminations  from  the  internal  element  of  molten 
light.  I  beheld  forests,  groves,  hills,  vales,  high  moun- 
tains, and  unfathomable  caves  and  dells,  all  crystallized 
out  of  living  light,  all  imprisoning  prismatic  rays,  not 
of  one,  but  of  countless  shades  of  color. 

The  air,  though  translucent  beyond  our  conception  of 
the  most  attenuated  ether,  was  still  shimmering  with  the 
billions  of  glittering  creatures  that  floated  in  it  and  dis- 
turbed its  shining  waves  as  they  moved.  Vast  firma- 
ments, spangled  thick  with  suns  and  systems,  swung  over 
all,  a  crystal  arch,  in  which  immensity  seemed  to  be  out- 
spread. From  these  glorious  galaxies  of  worlds,  count- 
less meteors  were  being  forever  thrown  off,  sailing 
through  space  like  chariots  of  fire. 

The  movements  of  the  sunny  worlds  on  high  were 
plainly  discerned  too,  and  instead  of  a  silent,  moveless 
plain  of  stars,  like  that  which  overarched  the  earth,  the 
wheeling,  whirling  stars  were  rushing  on  in  their  several 
orbits,  shooting,  darting,  speeding  round  and  round  some 
vast  and  unknown  centre,  on  a  glorious  scale  of  heavenly 
pyrotechnics  which  dazzled  the  straining  eyes  into 
wondering  ecstacy.  In  lower  air  were  sailing  cars  and 
airy  ships,  carrying  the  rejoicing  people  of  these  sunny 
realms  from  point  to  point  in  space,  whilst  some  were 
floating  by  their  own  resistless  wills,  upheld  by  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  locomotion  and  atmosphere. 
Thus  they  swam,  sank,  ascended  and  sustained  them- 
selves on  waves  of  air  like  happy  birds,  and  oh,  what  a 
gracious  race,  what  a  nobly-created  form  of  life  they 


202  GHOST  LAND. 

revealed  to  me!  Tall  and  elastic,  sunny-haired,  blue- 
eyed,  with  slender,  majestic  forms,  vast,  globe-like  heads, 
and  lovely,  placid  faces,  all  attired  in  robes  of  snowy 
white,  azure,  or  sun  hue.  Their  cities  were  full  of  trees, 
flowers,  and  spire-like  towers,  with  glittering  domes  and 
minarets  crowned  with  metallic  ornaments.  These  cities 
were  divided  off  by  white,  smooth  roads  and  shady  trees, 
and  a  wealth  of  flowers  that  made  the  senses  ache  to 
inhale  their  perfume.  Vast  palaces  of  art  and  science 
were  there  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  universe,  not  in 
party  but  all. 

,Thus  these  children  of  the  sun  comprehended  fully 
music,  rhythm,  speech,  motion,  chemical,  astronomical, 
and  geological  laws.  In  short  every  form  of  art  or  science 
was  known  and  taught  in  these  vast  and  gorgeous  cities. 
Labor  was  rest  and  exercise;  work  was  knowledge 
put  in  practice,  and  food  was  the  simple  gathering-in  of 
rare  and  precious  plants  and  herbs  and  fruits  that  grew 
by  nature  where  the  beings  of  nature  might  demand 
them.  Oh,  what  a  glory  it  was  to  live  upon  this  happy, 
happy  orb, —  to  be  a  child  of  the  gracious  sun !  I  thought 
by  only  looking  on  this  radiant  world  all  sorrow  van- 
ished, and  its  very  memory  could  never  come  again. 

Before  the  vision  closed  I  perceived  that  for  millions 
of  miles  in  space,  beyond  the  surface  of  the  sun  world, 
were  glittering  zones  and  belts  of  many-colored  ra- 
diance, forming  a  hazy  rainbow,  a  photosphere  of  spark- 
ling fire-mist  visible  to  the  eye  of  spirit  alone,  all 
crowded  up  with  lands  and  worlds  and  spheres  peopled 
with  happy  angel  spirits  of  the  sun.  But  ah  me!  I 
veil  my  presumptuous  eyes  as  I  dream  again  of  these 
heavenly  regions,  and  thoughts,  thoughts  like  scintil- 
lations from  the  mind  of  Deity,  fill  up  my  throbbing  soul 
as  the  memory  of  this  wondrous  world  of  heaven  and 


GHOST  LAND.  203 

heavenly  bliss  recurs  to  me  now.  The  awful  glory 
vanished,  and  when  the  gorgeous  panorama  faded,  I 
knew  where  the  light  of  our  poor,  dull  planet's  day- 
beams  came  from.  I  saw  that  the  magnetic  oceans 
flowing  from  this  radiant  sun  sphere,  combining  with 
our  earthly  magnetism,  created  by  mutual  saturation 
that  freight  of  heat  and  light,  motion,  and  all  impon- 
derable force,  the  sum  of  which  was  LIFE.  I  saw  that 
the  light  and  heat  and  life  which  permeates  all  being,  is 
evolved  by  galvanic  action  generated  between  the  pho- 
tospheres of  the  parent  mass,  and  circumferential  satel- 
lites. Hence  at  those  points  which  in  the  revolutions 
of  time  are  turned  from  the  central  orb,  no  galvanic 
action  is  proceeding;  the  result  is  lack  of  action,  lack 
of  galvanic  force,  hence  darkness,  night.  Life  per  se 
is  motion,  motion  is  light  and  heat.  Light  and  heat 
are  magnetism;  and  this  causes  the  action  and  reaction 
ensuing  between  the  negative  photosphere  of  the  earth, 
and  the  positive  photosphere  of  the  sun.  This  simple 
scheme,  so  like  a  schoolboy's  lesson,  pervades  all  the 
billions  upon  billions  of  marching  and  countermarching 
worlds,  bodies  in  space,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  in  the 
boundless  universe. 

Recalled  at  length  from  these  blinding,  wildering  vis- 
ions, by  my  own  near  approach  to  the  mystic  gate  where 
human  life  ended,  and  all  beyond  was  veiled  to  me 
in  shadow  land,  the  weary,  dying  body  put  in  its 
claim  for  sympathy  and  thought,  and  I  was  about  to 
make  a  last  instinctive  effort  to  drag  myself  again  to  the 
river's  bank,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  by  a 
strange,  chiming  sound,  such  an  one  as  had  often  before 
warned  me  of  a  spiritual  presence.  This  time  however, 
I  fancied  I  heard  a  peal  of  very  distant  bells,  such  bells 
as  ring  out  from  some  great  city  in  majestic  strains  of 


204  GHOST  LAND. 

joy  and  gladness;  very  distant,  and  subdued  by  dis- 
tance to  the  sweetest  tones,  melting  almost  to  echoes; 
still  they  rang  in  my  dull  and  heavy  ear.  Then  came  a 
more  distinct  sound,  like  the  rushing  of  mighty  wings, 
and  then,  though  my  eyes  were  closed,  I  could  see 
through  their  heavy  lids,  vast  sheets  of  corruscating 
light,  darting  like  gigantic  fans  over  the  entire  quarter 
of  the  heavens  which  lay  to  the  north. 

At  first  I  thought — if  thought  it  could  be  called  that 
resembled  a  faint  light  streaming  over  a  pathway  where 
the  clouds  of  death  were  fast  mustering — that  a  great 
display  of  the  splendid  aurora  borealis  was  illuminat- 
ing the  scene;  but  in  a  moment  the  light  became  col- 
lected from  space  around,  and  centred  on  a  radiant  figure 
that  stood  before  me,  in  size  gigantic,  in  form  like  that 
of  a  man,  in  substance  a  fleecy  mass  of  fiery  glory. 
"I  am  Metron,  the  Spirit  of  the  North,"  this  being  said, 
speaking  in  the  same  chiming  tone  as  the  distant  joy- 
bells,  "  I  am  thy  guardian  spirit,  chief  of  the  Elemen- 
taries  amongst  whom  thy  soul  hath  roamed  so  long. 
Thou  hast  not  dreamed  nor  fancied  what  thou  hast  seen. 
When  all  shall  be  revealed  in  the  light  of  spiritual  real- 
ity, matter  shall  prove  to  be  the  phantom,  spirit  the  sub- 
stance of  creation.  The  visions  of  the  body  are  dim, 
uncertain,  changeful ;  those  of  the  soul  are  real,  although 
often  broken  and  refracted  through  the  prismatic  hues 
of  matter.  Thou  hast  drunk  at  the  fountain  of  the  real, 
for  the  first  time  in  thy  life,  alone  and  unaided  by 
another's  will.  A  little  while,  another  brief  season  of 
probation  ended,  and  thou  must  live  and  walk,  learn  and 
know,  by  spirit  teaching  alone. 

"I  am  he  to  whom  the  task  of  guiding  thy  spirit 
through  the  first  stages  of  the  universe  has  been  in- 
trusted. Lean  on  me,  beloved  one;  and  now  for  a  sea- 


GHOST  LAND.  205 

eon,  rest  and  sleep  be  thine !  In  the  hours  that  shall  be, 
when  thou  livest  again  and  art  thyself  alone,  call  on  me, 
thy  guardian  spirit,  —  and  Metron,  Spirit  of  the  North, 
will  ever  answer." 

Darkness,  cold,  death-damps,  and  deep,  deep  stillness 
succeeded.  What  do  I  last  remember?  Let  me  try  and 
think. 

A  voice,  sweeter,  softer,  tenderer  far  than  Metron's, 
whispered  in  my  ear,  "-Louis!  my  darling,  suffering 
Louis !  All  will  soon  be  over  now,  and  then  thy  rest  will 
come." 

Did  I  speak?  Did  I  answer  then?  I  know  not.  If 
I  did  the  words  must  surely  have  been,  "  O  Constance, 
let  me  die  and  be  at  rest  forever !  "  * 

*  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  foregoing  and  succeeding  chapters  were 
rendered  into  English  by  the  author  himself,  and  although  submitted  to 
the  Editor  for  correction,  have  been  left  untouched,  the  Editor  finding  it 
difficult  to  modify  the  author's  peculiar  style  of  constructing  sentences, 
without  marring  their  intention.  —  ED.  G.  L. 


CHAPTEK  XI. 

THE   AWAKENING. 

OH,  to  awaken  free  from  pain,  from  care  and  toil,  and 
sordid  strife  for  bread!  To  feel  no  grief,  no  cold  or 
heat,  no  thirst  or  hunger!  nevermore  to  weep  or  know^ 
what  sorrow  is;  to  look  on  all  life  past  as  an  empty 
dream,  whose  gloomy  shadows  can  nevermore  return! 
No  more  bereavement,  bitter  separations,  injustice,  cru- 
elty, or  wrong !  ~No  more  heart-ache,  not  even  a  sob  or 
sigh! 

To  feel  no  sense  of  weight  or  bonds  to  earth ;  to  float 
or  wing  on  high  in  air;  to  speed  like  the  lightning's 
flash  through  space,  or  sail  like  a  bird  on  the  buoyant 
waves  of  ether!  To  see  the  dull,  round  globe  far,  far 
below,  with  its  canopy  of  clouds  and  its  creeping  myri- 
ads, insect-like,  swarming  upon  its  surface,  all  left  be- 
hind! To  look  up  through  happy  tears  and  melting 
fire-mists  to  the  spangled  heavens,  so  dim  to  earth,  so 
gorgeously  bright  to  you!  To  feel  kind  hands  about 
you,  tender  arms  enfolding  you,  and  hear  the  tones  of 
well-remembered  friends,  long-lost,  almost  forgotten, 
whispering  sweet  words  of  welcome  in  your  ear;  to 
gaze  around  and  see  a  brilliant,  happy  circle  of  loved 
and  loving  friends,  companions,  kindred,  beckoning  you 
home,  home,  home  forever! 

No  more  parting,  no  more  death  or  sadness !  Oh,  to  be 
there!  On,  on  through  upper  air!  On,  on,  still  higher, 


GHOST  LAND.  207 

beyond  the  night  and  darkness,  beyond  the  stars !  Up 
higher  yet!  up  through  soft  airs  and  sweet  perfumes, 
up  to  the  realms  of  never-setting  sunlight,  up  above 
mountain  heights,  where  glittering  domes  and  towers  and 
palaces  are  flashing  in  bright,  prismatic,  many-colored 
rays,  and  spanned  by  a  thousand  arching  rainbows. 

To  look  down  far,  far  beneath,  and  see  white  cities  and 
long,  bright  roads,  embowered  in  spicy  groves  and 
waving  trees,  and  outstretched,  flowery  plains,  all  full 
of  busy,  happy,  lovely  beings,  radiant  with  joy  and  life. 
Still  to  speed  on,  borne  on  in  an  airy  car  whose  swift 
and  rocking  motion  stirs  the  pulse,  quickens  the  breath, 
and  makes  the  wild  heart  leap  for  very  gladness !  On, 
till  you  reach  the  lovely,  lovely  land  far  higher  than  the 
highest  thought  can  measure,  far  off  in  space,  forever 
removed  from  earth  and  night  and  gloom ;  the  land  where 
home  is,  and  home  the  spot  you  most  desire  to  reach ; 
the  place  you  long  for,  wait  for,  where  all  you  love 
wait  for  you.  Oh,  glorious  ride !  Oh,  life  of  a  thousand 
years  pressed  into  one  sweet  hour!  And  such  was  my 
awakening,  such  my  flight  through  space,  such  the 
rest  a  tired  spirit  and  broken  heart  encountered.  Vain 
would  be  the  effort  to  speak  of  things  and  scenes  and 
modes  of  life  for  which  earth  has  no  language,  mortal 
being  no  parallel.  Some  few  points  alone  of  this  better 
land  I  may  describe  in  human  speech.  Let  me  recall 
them.  Music !  Every  motion  there  has  its  own  sound, 
and  when  vast  numbers  of  tones  combine  in  harmony,  — 
and  all  is  harmony  there,  no  discord,  —  that  combina- 
tion forms  music.  Hence  music  is  speech  and  sound; 
but  when  it  is  designed  to  represent  ideas,  recite  a  his- 
tory, tell  a  tale,  or  explain  the  marvels  of  creation, 
masses  of  symphonic  music  are  performed;  and  as  each 
tone  is  in  itself  an  idea,  every  separate  tone  has  a  special 


208  GHOST  LAND. 

meaning,  and  the  whole  combined  form  a  language  in 
which  the  highest  glories  of  the  universe  can  be  revealed. 
There  is  no  music  in  heaven  without  a  real  meaning; 
hence  the  listener  or  performer  finds  in  music  volumes 
of  ideas. 

As  I  listened  to  the  sweet  yet  awful  symphonies  that 
greeted  me  when  I  paused,  all  glowing  with  life  and  joy 
and  love  at  my  radiant  home,  I  heard  the  song  of  life 
with  all  its  deep,  inner  meaning.  I  heard  and  under- 
stood that  poor,  weak,  trembling  mortals  are  never 
out  of  the  hands  of  creative  wisdom.  The  tones  of 
Nature  sang  of  her  eternal  Author,  Finisher;  an  all- 
sustaining,  all-protecting  Providence ;  told  of  his  good- 
ness, wisdom,  power;  instructed  us  to  trust  and  lean  on 
him;  spoke  of  the  grand  design  in  suffering;  the  beauty, 
symmetry,  and  order  of  creation,  when  the  finite  being 
begins  to  understand  the  infinite.  HOME  !  Can  I  convey 
by  that  precious  word  any  realization,  however  faint,  of 
the  rest  and  peace  of  a  heavenly  home?  I  fear  me  not. 
Home  was  the  place  where  my  loved  ones  clustered, 
to  which  all  their  divergent  wanderings  tended  back 
again.  Home  was  the  place  where  all  my  special  tastes 
found  expression,  where  I  might  stay,  rest,  grow, 
exchange  glad  greetings  with  all  who  sought  or  loved 
me, —  a  place  to  think  in  until  I  grew  ready  for  another 
advance.  Every  spirit  has  a  home,  a  centre  of  love, 
rest,  and  ingathering  of  new  powers  and  forces,  a 
place  where  all  one  has  loved,  admired,  most  wished  or 
longed  for,  takes  shape,  and  becomes  embodied  in  the 
soul's  surroundings. 

Sometimes  the  spirit  gravitates,  as  mine  did,  to  some 
lonely,  church-like  hall,  a  stately,  silent  place  of  inner 
rest  and  contemplation,  and  there  the  past  resolved 
itself  in  shadowy  pictures  on  the  walls,  and  came  and 


GHOST  LAND.  209 

went  like  dissolving  views,  mapping  out  the  minutest 
event  or  thought  or  word  of  my  past  earthly  life,  all 
which  I  found  was  fixed  in  the  astral  light,  of  which 
that  temple  was  a  Scripture  page,  forever.  Oh,  won- 
derful alchemy  of  spiritual  existence !  As  I  read  again 
the  panorama  of  my  life,  that  ineffaceable  record  which 
every  soul  must  read  and  read  again,  the  past  returned 
with  its  appropriate  judgment.  Many  events  which  at 
their  time  of  action  I  had  felt  regret  for,  even  remorse, 
I  now  beheld  as  an  inevitable  sequence  to  other  acts, 
stepping-stones,  without  which  my  life  would  have  been 
incomplete.  Deeds  on  which  I  had  prided  myself,  now 
showed  the  littleness  or  petty  egotism  from  which  they 
sprang;  sorrows  which  had  wrung  my  spirit,  appeared 
as  blessings;  and  thoughts  I  had  lamented  once,  I  now 
perceived  to  have  been  effects  inevitable.  I  saw  and 
knew  myself  to  be  a  chemical  compound,  made  up  of  what 
I  had  been,  or  what  had  been  done,  said,  and  thought. 
All  things  appeared  in  judgment,  and,  stranger  yet, 
all  that  I  had,  all  that  I  possessed,  enjoyed,  or  saw, 
nay,  the  very  air  I  breathed,  was  tinctured  by  myself, 
and  I  saw,  felt,  heard,  and  enjoyed  only,  as  my  inner 
nature  colored  my  surroundings.  All  things  were 
real  around  me,  but  my  capacity  to  know  and  use  them 
sprang  from  my  inner  self.  O  Heaven,  keep  our 
earthly  record  fair,  or  woe  betide  us  in  the  immutable 
procedures  of  the  land  of  souls ! 

In  another  scene  I  may  not  fully  speak  of,  I  learned 
that  our  souls  and  all  their  faculties  are  magnetic  tractors, 
drawing  to  themselves  only  such  corresponding  things 
and  persons  as  assimilate  with  them.  If  the  faculties 
are  all  engrossed  by  unselfish  love,  loving  friends  will 
answer.  If  the  spirit  reaches  out  for  beauty,  light,  or 
special  knowledge,  the  answer  comes  in  kind,  and  sur- 

14 


210  GHOST  LAND. 

rounds  the  soul  with  beings  and  associations  kindred 
with  its  yearnings.  Base  passions,  vicious  habits,  and 
criminal  propensities  find  no  responding  satisfaction  in 
spirit  land.  They  are  all  outgrowths  of  earth  and  earthy 
things,  and  cast  the  soul  down  to  those  lower  depths 
that  permeate  the  earth  and  chain  it  to  the  scene  of  its 
affections.  In  spirit  land,  ideas  are  all  incarnate,  and 
become  realities  and  living  things.  Nothing  is  lost  in 
the  universe.  All  that  ever  has  been,  can  be,  shall -be, 
are  garnered  up  in  the  ever-present  laboratories  of  being. 
Glorious  privilege  it  is  to  roam  through  the  endless  cor- 
ridors of  time,  and  still  to  find  an  eternity  beyond  to 
grow  in!  THE  SPHEBES!  what  may  they  mean?  What 
mortal  tongue  or  pen  can  fitly  speak  of  them?  IDEAS 
ABE  SPHERES.  There  are  ten  thousand  million  spheres, 
all  rounded  into  complete  worlds,  and  all  are  the  habi- 
tations of  those  who  cherish  the  special  idea  which  rules 
the  sphere. 

The  spheres  are  not  permanent,  but  the  temporary  homes 
of  those  who  pass  through  them.  They  are  the  garners 
into  which  are  gathered  up  the  sheaves  of  earth,  there  to 
rest  and  gain  experience,  until  they  become  distributed 
and  amalgamated  into  the  bread  of  eternal  life.  There 
are  spheres  of  love,  where  tender  natures  cling  to  one 
another,  until  they  are  drawn  by  higher,  broader  aspira- 
tions, out  into  broader  planes  of  thought.  There  are 
spheres  of  every  shade  of  mental  light,  ideality,  thought, 
and  knowledge;  spheres  of  special  grades  of  goodness, 
intellect,  and  wisdom.  In  all  and  each  is  a  special  meed 
of  happiness,  but  also  in  all  and  each  are  prevailing  im- 
pulses to  branch  out  farther,  press  on,  and  grow,  so  that 
every  soul  partaking  of  the  special  characteristics  of 
every  sphere  in  turn,  may  glean  and  gather  in  at  last  the 
good  of  all,  and  thus  become  a  perfected  spirit. 


GHOST  LAND.  211 

WORLDS  IK  SPACE,  yes,  worlds,  —  thousands,  mil- 
lions of  them;  world  within  world,  the  finer  perme- 
ating the  grosser,  the  grosser  filling  up  the  space  of  the 
still  more  dense,  until  at  last  I  saw  no  finite  lines,  no 
end  to  the  infinitely  fine,  the  infinitely  dense. 

I  saw  the  concentred  scheme  of  the  whole  solar  sys- 
tem with  earth  and  its  zones  and  belts  of  spirit  spheres, 
countless  in  number,  various  in  attribute.  Myriads  of 
rare  and  splendid  beings  sped  through  the  spaces,  pier- 
cing the  grosser  spheres  invisibly  to  all  but  their  own 
grade  of  being.  Myriads  of  duller,  grosser  beings  lived 
in  these  spheres,  unconscious  that  they  were  permeated 
by  radiant  worlds,  all  thronged  with  glorious  life, 
too  fine  for  them  to  view.  Each  living  creature  was 
surrounded  and  enclosed  by  the  atmosphere  to  which  he 
belonged,  and  this  restrained  his  vision  to  the  special 
sphere  in  which  he  dwelt.  Yet  the  finer  realms  of 
being  could  view  at  will  the  grosser;  for  now  I  found 
the  secret  of  will:  'T  is  KNOWLEDGE  PUT  INTO  PRAC- 
TICE, and  the  knowledge  of  the  highest  is  power,  and 
power  is  will.  Thus  is  supreme  will  resident  alone  with 
the  Unknowable,  the  Being  who  knows  all.  In  these 
spheres  that  so  lock  and  interlace  with  another,  I  saw 
that  the  lowest  and  nearest  earth  were  dull,  coarse,  bar- 
ren spheres,  dreary  and  unlovely,  where  dark  and  un- 
lovely beings  wandered  to  and  fro,  seeking  the  rest  and 
satisfaction  earth  alone  could  give  them.  ~No  homes 
were  there,  no  flowers,  no  bloom,  no  friendly  gatherings, 
no  songs  or  music;  the  hard,  cold  natures  of  the  wretched 
dwellers  gave  off  no  light,  no  beauty,  harmony,  or  love ; 
yet  all  felt  impelled,  obliged  to  toil.  Toil  was  the  genius 
of  the  place,  yet  whatever  labors  were  performed,  became 
instrumental  in  digging  up  the  spirit,  and  breaking  the 
clods  of  hard  and  wicked  natures. 


212  GHOST  LAND. 

Every  occupation  seemed  to  come  perforce  and  must 
be  done,  yet  all  seemed  destined  to  help  re-make  the 
nature,  open  up  new  ideas,  new  sources  of  thought,  and 
impel  the  hapless  laborers  to  aspire  after  better  things 
and  higher  states.  I  saw  the  flitting  lamps  of  spirit 
hearts,  bright  missionary  angels,  who  filled  these  leaden 
spheres  with  their  gracious  influence,  and  yet  though 
often  felt,  were  unseen  by  the  dull-eyed  inhabitants, 
except  as  stars  or  gleams  of  shimmering  radiance.  Ah 
me !  I  fain  would  linger  on  the  awful,  grand,  and  wise 
economy  of  being,  but  the  seal  of  mortal  life  is  on  my 
lips  and  on  the  minds  of  those  I  write  for :  who  but  the 
death-angel  can  break  it?  I  hasten  to  the  conclusion  of 
my  own  brief  pilgrimage.  My  noble  father,  my  gentle, 
loving  Constance,  and  hosts  of  the  dead  of  earth,  the 
angels  of  a  better  life,  were  around  me. 

At  length,  in  the  midst  of  my  great  egotism  of  joy,  a 
fearful  pang  shot  through  my  mind  as  a  dim  remem- 
brance came  of  one  who  was  not  there.  Stronger  and 
stronger  grew  the  thought,  till  again  he  filled  my  being, 
and  I  loathed  myself  because  for  a  season  I  had  forgot- 
ten him,  —  my  more  than  friend  and  adopted  father; 
but  oh!  where  was  he  now,  and  why  not  with  me? 
Where  was  that  dearest  one  of  all,  for  whom  I  had 
given  my  life  ?  The  pitying  angels  who  thronged  around 
me  showed  how  their  wish  that  I  should  rest  and  gain 
strength  and  life  and  light  in  the  land  of  souls  had  inter- 
cepted thoughts  of  him  before,  but  now  the  answer  came, 
and  all  too  soon. 

The  spheres  I  had  seen  were  not  the  all  of  earth, 
though  countless  to  me  in  number.  Myriads  there  were 
within  the  earth  itself,  where  lingered  bound  and  cap- 
tive, vicious  spirits,  the  ignorant,  dull,  idle,  and  criminal, 
who  had  not  done  with  earth  and  who  must  learn,  per- 


GHOST  LAND.  213 

haps  for  ages,  all  that  belonged  to  their  human  duties, 
ere  they  could  pass  the  threshold,  and  enter  on  the  life 
of  the  upper  spheres;  and  yet  beyond  again,  below, 
beneath  the  earth,  inhered  an  anti-state  of  mortal  being, 
vast  realms  where  dwelt  the  spirits  of  nature.  Here 
were  millions  of  ascending  grades  of  life,  ranging  from 
the  vital  principle  of  growth  in  the  rude  stone,  to  the 
shining  spirits  of  the  fire  and  air,  who  only  waited  to 
pass  through  the  last  stages  of  progressive  life  and 
death  ere  they  should  gravitate  to  earth  and  inherit 
mortal  bodies  and  immortal  souls.  Crowds  of  aspiring 
spirits  filled  these  realms,  who  were  not  men,  but  who 
looked  to  man  in  inspirational  dreams  and  trances  as  to 
the  angel  which  led  and  called  them  upwards. 

I  had  seen  these  elementary  spheres  through  the  films 
of  earthly  magnetism,  and  then  they  seemed  bright, 
some  resplendent  as  in  the  tales  of  fairy-land;  but  now, 
beholding  them  through  the  pure  alchemy  of  spiritual 
truth,  I  saw  that  they  were  destitute  of  all  the  warmth 
and  life  and  beauty  that  humanity  confers.  It  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  sad  and  barren  realms  of  elemental 
spirit-life  that  I  saw  at  length  my  beloved  and  impris- 
oned friend  and  adopted  father.  I  knew  it  all  at  once 
and  how  it  was.  He  had  on  earth  sunk  his  bright  intel- 
lect down  to  these  elementals  instead  of  drawing  them 
up  to  him  by  his  own  aspirations  for  a  higher  life  than 
man's.  He  had  descended  below  man  to  seek  for  cau- 
sation instead  of  ascending  above  him;  and  now,  oh 
hapless  fate !  he  had  gravitated  to  where  he  had  chained 
his  spirit.  He  could  not  look  through  the  radiant 
realms  of  upper  air  and  see  me,  but  he  felt  the  streams 
of  pitying  love  I  poured  out  upon  him,  and  stretched 
his  weary  arms  towards  my  spirit  home  in  tender  sym- 
pathy. Spirit-life,  glory,  peace,  and  happiness  ended 


214:  GHOST  LAND. 

for  me  then.  There  was  no  more  rest  for  me  in  heaven 
so  long  as  I  knew  there  was  work  to  do  for  him.  A 
strange  and  striking  picture  of  life  and  what  I  could  do 
was  now  unrolled  before  me.  I  saw  myself  on  earth 
again,  once  more  in  the  midst  of  suffering  and  pain.  I 
saw  the  soul  of  my  dearest  friend  clinging  around  me 
like  a  tender  parasite.  For  a  brief  period  I  saw  my 
life  and  his  commingle  like  two  quivering  flames  or 
uniting  rain-drops.  For  a  season  the  spirit  of  my  father, 
thus  drawn  back  to  the  earth  by  the  magnetism  of  one 
so  very,  very  near  to  him,  almost  himself  in  fact,  would 
be  released  from  the  lower  elemental  spheres,  and  resum- 
ing its  life  functions  through  my  mortal  body  would 
shake  off  the  old  errors,  strike  out  into  new  paths  of 
light,  rise  to  its  natural  home  in  spirit-life,  and,  looking 
through  the  windows  of  my  soul's  eyes  perceive  the 
glorious  truth  of  spiritual  immortality.  My  spirit  should 
be  the  ladder  on  which  his  soul  should  rise  from  the 
elementary  spheres  through  earth  again  to  his  home  in 
the  better  land.  This  was  to  be  my  destiny  and  his. 

I  saw  it  all  and  cried,  "  Speed,  angels,  speed  me  back 
to  earth  again !  Haste !  help  me  to  release  the  impris- 
oned soul  of  him  I  love  so  dearly!  "  But  this  was  not 
all.  I  learned  that  I  too  had  been  robbed  of  my  soul's 
manhood;  that  I  had  not  lived  my  own  life,  but  that 
of  my  erring  friend.  His  spirit  had  usurped  the  rights 
of  mine ;  his  will  had  superseded  mine  and  left  my  soul 
a  mere  nonentity. 

I  must  return  to  live  again  on  earth  then,  — return  for 
what  seemed  in  earthly  measure  many  long  and  weary 
years,  but  still  I  must  undergo  their  pains  and  pen- 
alties, first  for  the  sake  of  my  dearest  friend,  and  next 
for  my  own.  My  destiny  was  all  laid  out  before  me,  — 
the  rugged  paths  my  bleeding  feet  would  tread,  my 


GHOST  LAND.  215 

heart's  deep  love,  bereavement,  desolation.  The  cold 
world's  slights  and  sneers,  the  keen  tooth  of  ingratitude, 
the  harsh  sting  of  injustice,  —  all,  all  were  mapped 
before  me  like  a  baleful  battle-scene  intruding  on  some 
lovely  landscape  whose  peace  and  joy  it  ruined. 

I  felt  an  unbidden  tear  steal  down  my  cheek  whilst 
I  bowed  my  head  and  murmured,  "  Thy  will,  not  mine, 
be  done."  I  knew  that  will  was  good.  I  had  seen  the 
glory,  goodness,  wisdom  of  the  scheme,  the  perfect 
order  in  disorder,  the  good  which  sorrow  brings,  the 
triumph  over  evil,  wrong,  and  death. 

I  knew  God  lived  and  reigned.  I  felt  his  bounteous 
hand  and  all-sustaining  presence  upholding  every  crea- 
ture he  has  made,  though  their  blind  eyes  cannot  per- 
ceive his  tracks.  I  knew  that  I  could  trust  his  eternal 
wisdom,  and  when  the  darkness  should  thicken  round 
me,  the  thunders  peal,  and  my  blinded  eyes  could 
discover  naught  but  ruin,  he  would  be  strong  to  save. 
The  angels  bade  me  take  for  my  life's  watchword,  GOD 
U^DEKSTA^TDS,  and  I  knew  it  was  so.  And  now  the 
fading  light  of  the  spiritual  sun  receded  from  my  view; 
the  joy -bells  rang  more  faintly ;  the  crashing  symphonies 
of  heavenly  music  resounded  in  dim  echoes ;  gray  mists, 
descending  thicker,  faster,  deepened  into  night,  and 
closed  around  me.  The  stars  came  out  above  my  head, 
as  descending  still,  I  floated  down  through  the  murky 
atmosphere  of  earth,  upborne  in  the  arms  of  loving 
spirit  friends,  and  cheered  by  their  whispered  promise, 
"  Ever  with  thee! "  At  length  I  reached  this  cold,  dull, 
lonely  orb ;  arrived  at  last  on  earth. 

They  bore  me  to  the  solitary  wood,  the  dreadful  dell 
of  mortal  agony.  Torches  flitted  through  the  darkness 
of  the  night,  and  at  length,  half  concealed  by  trees  and 
underbrush,  I  saw  a  rigid,  pale,  distorted  form,  a  scarcely 


216  GHOST  LAND. 

living  creature,  on  which  some  kind  and  tender  beings 
lavished  human  cares,  and  gentle  eyes  were  raining  tears 
of  pity.  At  first  I  turned  from  the  spectacle  with  loathing, 
but  even  then  a  voice,  though  far  and  distant,  reached  my 
ear,  whose  appealing  tones  cried,  w  Help,  Louis !  Louis, 
help !  "  It  was  his  unresting  soul  that  pleaded.  That 
cry  broke  forth  from  his  imprisoned  spirit  and  wailed 
through  the  sad  night  air  in  accents  of  wildest  anguish. 
I  paused  no  longer.  I  know  not  how,  save  that  I  acted 
by  a  mighty  effort  of  resistless  will,  but  in  one  instant 
I  ceased  to  be  a  freed  and  rejoicing  spirit.  Minutes  of 
dull  forgetfulness  succeeded,  then  keen  pangs  awoke 
me;  the  gates  of  life  rolled  back  amidst  my  sobs  and 
sighs,  to  let  the  spirit  in,  and  gentle  voices  murmured, 
wHe  lives!  Thank  Heaven,  he  lives!  and  we  are  yet 
in  time  to  save  him." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

EXTRACTS  FKOM  THE  DIAEY  OF  JOHN  CAVENDISH 
DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  OF  SQUAHE,  LONDON. 

[In  the  Introduction  to  this  work,  the  editor  has  already  explained  the  necessity  of 
incorporating  some  portion  of  Mr.  John  C.  Dudley's  Diary  into  the  "Ghost  Land" 
papers.  Without  the  continuous  thread  of  narrative  afforded  hy  Mr.  Dudley's  inter- 
esting journal,'  there  would  be  a  hiatus  in  the  record  of  several  months,  which  the 

reader  will  readily  perceive  could  not  be  filled  up  by  the  Chevalier  de  B ,  and  yet 

this  would  leave  a  most  important  part  of  the  history  in  a  bald  and  unfinished  state. 

Neither  the  Chevalier  nor  Mr.  Dudley  have  been  very  exact  in  the  order  of  chron- 
ological data.  The  editor,  however,  being  quite  familiar  with  the  narrative,  is  enabled 
from  personal  knowledge  to  state  that  the  extract  from  Mr.  Dudley's  diary  with 
which  the  following  chapter  commences,  refers  to  the  period  when  Professor  von 
Marx  and  his  pupil  first  visited  England  together,  and  antedates  by  several  months 
the  catastrophe  narrated  in  the  last  chapter  but  one.— ED.  GHOST  LAND.] 

March  10,  18  .  —  Good  news  for  the  occultists  of 
Great  Britain !  Just  what  we  wanted,  in  fact,  and  that 
is,  the  infusion  of  a  new  element  into  our  effete,  lifeless 
ranks.  Although  not  one  of  us  has  half  digested  the 
good  things  we  have  been  receiving  for  years,  we  have 
long  been  on  the  tiptoe  of  expectation,  waiting  for  some- 
thing new.  Well,  unless  my  expectations  are  strangely 
disappointed,  we  shall  have  just  the  dish  of  excitement 
our  blase  palates  have  been  hungering  for;  for  lo !  I  shall 
have  the  welcome  task  of  announcing  at  the  Orphic  cir- 
cle, of  which  I  am  the  recording  secretary,  the  advent 
of  the  great  Professor  Felix  von  Marx,  the  Cornelius 
Agrippa  and  Nostradamus  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
accompanied  too  by  a  peerless  somnambulist,  one  whom 
the  Illuminee  of  Germany  exalt  as  the  rarest  and  most 
gifted  seer  in  the  world. 


218  GHOST  LAND. 

I  don't  very  well  like  the  tone  of  von  Marx's  letter 
though,  for  he  declines  to  accept  of  my  hospitality,  old 
and  dear  as  are  the  ties  of  friendship  that  bind  us;  nor 
yet  he  adds,  will  he  consent  to  parade  the  gifts  of  his 
Seer  before  the  craving  wonder-seekers  of  England. 
The  boy  he  says  is  tired,  and  needs  entire  cessation 
from  magnetic  influences,  besides  they  are  coming  to 
London  as  he  assures  me,  chiefly  to  find  out  what  we 
can  show  them;  to  determine  what  progress  we  have 
made  in  the  black  or  white  art,  as  the  case  may  be,  and 
learn  whether  the  Teutons  are  not  surpassed  in  magi- 
cal lore  by  the  countrymen  of  Roger  Bacon,  Dee,  and 
Kelly.  Well,  no  matter  what  they  come  for,  I  for  one, 
feel  my  heart  leap  with  joy  at  the  prospect  of  clasping 
hands  once  more  with  my  dear  and  well-tried  friend, 
Felix  von  Marx.  Let  me  recall  the  circumstances  of 

our  early  intimacy.     At  the  university  of  "W ,  Marx 

and  I  were  sworn  chums.  "We  had  but  one  heart,  one 
purse,  and  one  lesson  between  us.  The  heart  was  our 
joint-stock  property;  the  purse  was  mine,  the  lesson 
his,  for  he  did  all  my  learning  for  me.  What  a  bright 
and  glorious  scholar  he  was !  Took  all  the  prizes,  and 
never  had  any  rivals ;  I  suppose  because  nobody  dared 
to  compete  with  him.  What  he  ever  found  to  take  a 
fancy  to  in  such  a  dunce  as  me,  unless  indeed  it  was  my 
unbounded  admiration  for  him,  I  never  could  under- 
stand; but  I  suppose  we  loved  each  other  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  positive  and  negative  agreement;  certain  it  is 
we  were  never  apart,  not  even  in  the  tremendous  mys- 
teries in  which  von  Marx  had  been  initiated  before  I 
knew  him,  and  which  he,  like  a  true  friend  as  he  was, 
determined  I  should  .share  with  him  when  we  became 
such  constant  associates.  Heavens!  what  awful  things 
we  did  at  that  K association.  If  but  half  our 


GHOST  LAND.  219 

doings  had  been  known  to  the  jealous  German  gov- 
ernment,—  our  fly-by-night  excursions,  our  Asmodeus 
inspections  of  any  house  or  castle  we  chose  to  enter 
spiritually,  our  Polter  GJieist  performances,  sending 
our  spirits  out  to  knock  about  the  pots  and  kettles  of 
old  fraus  and  pelt  their  pretty  frauleins  with  rosebuds 
and  spiritually  written  billets-doux!  me  thinks  we  stu- 
dents of  the  occult,  in  secret  session  in  our  upper  room 

at  "W -,  would  have  been  deemed  fitter  subjects  foi 

fine  and  imprisonment  than  many  a  political  plotter  01 
distinguished  conspirator,  hosts  of  whom  were  con- 
stantly under  arrest,  whilst  we  continued  to  cut  up  our 
capers  unmolested  and  unsuspected. 

It  was  a  hard  matter  for  me  to  quit  the  university  at 

"W and  my  dear  friend  Felix,  when  my  father  at 

length  recalled  me  for  the  purpose  of  placing  me  at 
that  dull  old  anti-German,  anti-spiritual,  anti-every- 
thing  that  is  progressive,  Oxford  College,  but  when 
after  two  years  of  useless  waste  of  fees  to  professors 
who  could  teach  me  nothing,  and  "fags"  who  could 
cram  nothing  into  me,  my  father  thought  the  time  had 
come  for  me  to  make  w  the  grand  tour,"  how  gladly  did 
I  remember  my  promise  to  von  Marx,  and  at  once  pro- 
pose him  to  my  respected  sire  as  the  tutor  most  fit  to 
accompany  me.  In  vain  I  argued  that  though  von  Marx 
was  in  reality  a  shade  younger  than  me,  he  was  a  per- 
fect octogenarian  in  learning  and  experience.  My  father 
had  inquired  about  him,  found  he  had  just  been  appointed 
to  a  professorship  in  Oriental  languages,  but  that,  taken 
on  the  whole,  he  was  a  strange,  mystical  sort  of  a  fellow, 
and  anything  but  a  fitting  mentor  for  me.  The  subject 
was  still  in  petto,  when  a  brilliant  diplomatic  opening 
occurred  for  me  in  our  minister's  suite  to  Russia. 

No  sooner  was  I  installed  in  my  new  dignity  than  I 


220  GHOST  LAND. 

discovered  the  immediate  necessity  of  my  having  an 
under-secretary.  Now  Professor  Marx  was  a  splendid 
linguist,  and  besides  the  Oriental  tongues,  Was  a  complete 
master  of  the  Russian  language.  He  could  give  intel- 
ligible expression  to  more  consonants  in  one  word  of 
seven  syllables,  in  fact  than  any  one  of  his  generation. 
The  result  was,  I  proved  to  my  father's  entire  satisfac- 
tion, that  if  I  did  not  succeed  in  securing  the  services 
of  Professor  Marx  as  my  under-secretary  and  instructor 
in  the  Russian  language,  my  whole  diplomatic  prospects 
would  be  blighted,  in  fact,  likely  to  come  to  a  prema- 
ture end. 

My  father  appreciated  the  force  of  my  logic.  The 
case  was  stated  to  the  professor,  who,  as  an  act  of  friend- 
ship, felt  bound  to  sacrifice  himself.  His  salary,  fixed  at 
double  the  worth  of  his  professorship,  his  ragged  college 
gown  and  cap  exchanged  for  a  neat  suit  of  Kham- 
schatka  dog,  behold  us  smoking  cheroots  and  plotting 
occult  seances  at  our  elegant  quarters  in  the  Grand 
Square  of  St.  Petersburg. 

I  had  always  loved  the  mysterious,  doted  on  ghost 
stories,  and  though  I  shrank  away  with  inexpressible 
terror  at  the  idea  of  their  realization,  I  ever  returned  to 
their  study  again,  and  cared  for  nothing  so  much  as  the 
wild,  the  weird,  and  the  wonderful.  Now,  if  there  ever 
was  a  born  Adept,  with  all  the  natural  qualifications 
for  a  magnetizer,  biologist,  healer,  astrologer,  in  a 
word,  for  a  master  of  spirits  and  spiritual  things,  that 
Adept  was  Felix  von  Marx.  As  to  me,  my  occult 
powers  were  my  natural  inheritance.  My  sainted 
mother,  then  in  heaven,  had  been  a  seeress,  my  hon- 
ored sire,  still  on  earth,  was  a  devoted  student  of  astrol- 
ogy. Coward  as  I  was — I  am  bound  to  own  it — in  the 
ghost-seeing  line,  I  never  could  get  out  of  that  invol- 


GHOST  LAND.  221 

untary  and  much  dreaded  accomplishment.  When  quite 
a  little  lad,  I  was  regularly  worried  with  ghosts.  My 
father  spent  the  autumn  months  generally  at  a  fine  old 
castle  he  owned  in  the  north  of  England,  and  there 
these  phantoms  took  such  an  extraordinary  fancy  to  me 
that  they  walked  with  me,  talked  with  me,  met  me  in 
every  gallery  and  corridor,  made  me  come  and  go, 
fetch  and  carry  just  as  if  I  had  been  a  young  sexton, 
and  naturally  belonged  to  the  dead.  I  saw,  moreover, 
sprites  and  fairies  by  the  score;  heard  the  mermaids 
sing  and  the  tritons  whistle ;  in  a  word,  there  never  was 
a  boy  more*  admirably  adapted  to  be  a  good  magnetic 
subject,  never  an  operator  more  completely  au  fait  at 
putting  me  through  the  spiritual  kingdom  than  Felix. 
Of  course  we  gravitated  together  as  naturally  as  the 
magnet  and  its  armature,  and  though,  now  I  was  in 
office  and  had  attained  to  the  dignity  of  a  diplomatist, 
I  declined  to  be  put  to  sleep  like  a  fractious  child  or 
sent  out  of  my  body  as  a  Polter  Gheist  to  scare  honest 
peasants  out  of  their  wits  with  throwing  stones  and 
making  noises  invisibly,  my  love  for  the  practices  of 
mesmerism  and  magic  only  increased  with  my  years 
and  the  fine  opportunities  which  association  with  my 
accomplished  secretary  afforded  me.  I  found  Professor 
von  Marx  had  made  immense  strides  in  occult  knowl- 
edge whilst  I  had  been  wasting  my  time  in  learning  the 
arts  of  impolite  dissipation  at  Oxford.  He  had  visited 
the  East,  where  he  was  born,  and  had  there  picked  up 
so  many  awful  scraps  of  magic  lore  that  I  began  to  be 
almost  afraid  of  him. 

Whilst  we  were  deep  in  our  plans  for  the  prosecution 
of  occult  study,  however,  I  suddenly  realized  the  truth 
of  that  excellent  proverb,  "Man  proposes  and  God 
disposes,"  in  the  very  awkward  fact  of  my  falling  des- 


222  GHOST  LAND. 

perately  in  love.  The  object  of  this  unexpected  awak- 
ening, was  a  charming  young  widow,  the  relict  of  a  cer- 
tain old  German  Margrave,  the  Prince  de  K ,  who 

had  left  his  fair  lady  with  a  fair  fortune,  by  virtue  of 
which  double  accomplishments  madame,  the  princess, 
became  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes,  and  the  target  at  which 
every  bachelor  in  the  land  aimed  his  arrows.  Of  course 
I  should  have  had  little  expectation  of  carrying  off  such 
a  prize,  with  so  many  odds  against  me,  had  not  the  lady 
conceived  a  very  agreeable  plan  of  perfecting  herself  in 
the  Russian  language.  She  was  visiting  for  the  season 
at  the  house  of  some  very  distinguished  relatives  of  her 
late  husband's  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  having  frequently 
met  us  in  the  diplomatic  circles,  and  noticed,  as  she 
courteously  observed,  the  -immense  facility  with  which  I 
acquired  the  throat-splitting  language  of  the  country 
under  the  admirable  tutelage  of  my  secretary,  she  in- 
quired in  the  most  insinuating  manner  whether  my 
studies  could  not  be  conducted  in  her  salon,  by  which 
arrangement  she  could  have  the  advantage  of  participat- 
ing in  them.  I  was  enchanted.  To  me  the  whole  thing 
was  plain.  The  princess  had  in  this  delicate  way,  hinted 
at  her  wish  to  enjoy  my  society  untrammelled  by  the 
frivolous  crowd  who  usually  surrounded  us,  and  thus 
I  should  be  able  to  get  the  start  of  all  my  rivals,  and  lay 
siege  to  the  fair  widow's  heart  at  my  leisure. 

The  only  difficulty  was,  to  enlist  that  cold-hearted 
Mephistopheles  of  a  secretary  of  mine  in  the  scheme. 
I  did  not  dare  confess  the  real  motives  that  prompted 
me,  for  I  could  by  no  means  venture  to  meet  the  tre- 
mendous sneer  with  which  I  knew  he  would  meet  my 
avowal  of  being  in  love.  At  length  I  conquered  his 
stubborn  prejudices  against  "the  attempt  to  teach  a 
woman  anything  but  folly,"  by  assuring  him  I  was  so 


GHOST  LAND.  223 

situated  that  if  I  did  not  continue  my  studies  in  the  Princess 

K 's  private  apartments  I  might  be  recalled  to  Europe 

at  any  moment.  Von  Marx  could  not,  as  he  affirmed,  see 
the  force  of  this  position ;  but  at  length,  finding  his  friend's 
heart  strongly  set  on  the  matter,  he  complied  with  the 
best  grace  he  could.  Thus  it  was  arranged  that  I  and  the 
princess  should  read  Russian  three  times  a  week  in  her 
elegant  salon,  where,  by  aid  of  coffee,  chocolate,  German 
poetry,  and  Italian  music,  I  managed  to  get  through  a 
deal  of  covert  flirtation  with  the  fair  widow,  whilst  the 
professor,  ensconced  in  a  distant  easy-chair,  pored  over 
the  pages  of  Cornelius  Agrippa  or  Jacob  Behmen. 

At  length  the  time  arrived  which  I  deemed  ripe  for 
my  intended  declaration.  Taking  advantage  of  my 
secretary's  being  laid  up  with  a  sore-throat,  and  present- 
ing myself  one  day  in  his  stead,  Russian  books  in  hand, 
-volumes,  by  the  way,  of  which  hitherto  we  had  not 
found  a  convenient  opportunity  of  cutting  the  pages,  — 
I  began  to  open  my  battery,  and  with  a  rush  of  enthu- 
siastic courage,  stimulated  by  the  absence  of  my  sec- 
retary, I  laid  my  name,  fame,  fortune,  life,  etc.  etc.,  at 
the  feet  of  the  adorable  princess.  The  result  of  this 
outbreak  was  a  polite  request  on  her  Highness's  part 
that  I  would  discontinue  my  visits  in  future.  I  was  in 
despair.  I  would  instantly  go  mad,  hang,  drown,  shoot, 
or  freeze  myself  to  death;  I  would  cut  somebody's 
throat,  exterminate  the  human  race?  and  by  way  of  pre- 
liminary, I  smoked  ten  cigars  and  wrote  the  princess  a 
series  of  letters  once  an  hour  for  three  days.  Each 
missive  ended,  like  my  cigars,  in  smoke.  At  length  and 
just  as  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  confide  in  von  Marx 
and  urge  him  to  plead  for  me,  that  gentleman  called  me 
into  his  apartment,  lighted  a  cigar,  begged  me  to  do  the 
same,  and  then,  putting  a  letter  into  my  hands,  asked 


224  GHOST  LAND. 

me  to  read  it  and  tell  him  what  I  thought  of  that. 
What  I  thought  of  that,  indeed!  Great  Heavens !  what 
should  that  be  but  a  deliberate  offer  of  herself,  her 
name,  fame,  fortune,  etc.  etc.,  from  the  Princess  K— 
to  Professor  Felix  von  Marx !  Rage  and  astonishment 
choked  my  utterance  at  firs.t,  whilst  prudence  and  self- 
respect  urged  me  to  keep  my  own  counsel  at  last. 
Recovering  my  composure,  I  began  to  congratulate 
my  friend  on  his  good  luck.  Of  course  I  was  glad,  I 
was  delighted,  I  should  dance  at  his  wedding  furi- 
ously; in  a  word,  I  was  "only  too  happy,"  I  said,  "to 
see  him  so  very  happy."  But  as  I  spoke,  with  a  sar- 
donic grin  worthy  of  a  demon,  I  could  not  help  remark- 
ing that  my  friend  appeared  most  particularly  unhappy. 
With  a  comical  mixture  of  discontent  and  perplexity, 
he  declared  he  could  not  imagine  what  the  deuce  the 
woman  could  want  him  for,  but  the  worst  of  it  was  he 
did  n't  know  how  he  was  to  get  out  of  it. 

"Get  out  of  it?"  I  exclaimed,  in  high  indignation. 
:rWhat!  when  the  handsomest  woman  in  St.  Peters- 
burg lays  her  fortune  at  your  feet?  " 

"  But  I  don't  want  the  woman,  nor  her  beauty  nor  her 
fortune  either,"  replied  the  cynic. 

"  But  my  dear  fellow,"  I  rejoined  warming  with  the 
idea  that  my  idol  was  to  be  slighted  and  insulted  by 
being  called  "  a  woman,"  "  you  can't  treat  a  lady  of  her 
exalted  rank  and  character  in  that  way.  You  must  have 
her,  you  ought  to  have  her,  you  shall  have  her,  or  — I  '11 
know  the  reason  why." 

:f  Whew !  "  cried  my  friend,  with  a  long  whistle.  "  Am 
I  to  be  married  against  my  will,  and  to  a  woman  I  don't 
care  two  straws  for?" 

I  saw  I  must  change  my  tack.  Professor  von  Marx 
was  just  then  the  handsomest  young  fellow  I  had  ever 


GHOST  LAND.  225 

looked  upon.  Tall  and  finely  formed,  any  Grecian 
sculptor  would  have  laid  violent  hands  upon  him  for  a 
model.  With  what  I  had  so  often  heard  the  ladies 
describe  as  "  those  lovely  black,  curling,  waving  locks," 
tossed  carelessly  over  a  noble  brow;  a  pair  of  large, 
splendid  dark  eyes,  that  went  right  through  everything, 
especially  that  frailest  of  all  things,  a  woman's  heart; 
with  a  classic  mouth,  fine  teeth,  and  what  every  female 
authority  declared  to  be  w  such  a  duck  of  a  moustache, 
and  such  a  love  of  a  pair  of  whiskers,"  but  above  all, 
with  a  sort  of  indescribable,  Oriental,  magical  kind  of 
spell-like  way  about  him  that  nobody  seemed  able  to 
resist;  who  could  compete  with  him?  On  the  other 
hand,  how  could  I,  a  slim,  genteel  youth,  with  narrow 
shoulders  and  a  stoop,  blue  eyes  and  a  cough,  a  small 
crop  of  straw-colored  hair  on  my  face  and  an  equally 
slender  allowance  on  my  head,  the  latter  of  a  stubborn 
character  too,  which  no  frizeur  had  ever  been  able  to 
twist  into  curl,  —  how  could  such  an  one  enter  the  lists 
with  a  von  Marx  and  hope  for  success?  Oh,  if  my  father 
had  only  been  an  Arabian  sheik  or  my  mother  an  East- 
ern sultana,  there  might  have  been  a  chance  for  me! 
But  as  it  was,  and  with  the  fatal  experience  of  the 
princess's  choice  between  a  poor  Adonis  and  a  rich 
gawky,  —  as  I  in  my  humility  deemed  myself,  —  I  saw 
there  was  no  chance  for  me  in  future,  unless  I  got  von 
Marx  married  right  out  of  hand.  Besides,  I  loved  the 
dear  fellow  in  one  way  as  much  as  I  adored  the  faithless 
fair  one  in  another  way,  and  the  only  balm  my  wounded 
spirit  could  receive  was  to  see  them  united.  This  done, 
I  would  seek  an  early  grave,  and  — "  die  in  peace."  How  I 
managed  it  I  cannot  tell,  —  whether  by  coaxing,  scolding, 
or  fairly  badgering  my  friend  into  the  match,  I  know  not. 
Certain  it  is,  I  did  succeed;  and  after  laying  out  before 

15 


226  GHOST  LAND. 

Felix  all  the  opportunities  he  would  enjoy  of  following 
up  his  favorite  pursuits  as  the  husband  of  the  rich  and 

fashionable  Princess  K ,  I  finally  saw  the  knot  tied 

by  the  chaplain  of  the  embassy,  and  Professor  von  Marx 
and  his  illustrious  bride  departing  for  one  of  her  charm- 
ing castles  on  the  Rhine,  at  which  spot  I  promised  to 
join  them  as  soon  as  I  could  get  released  from  my  now 
irksome  official  duties. 

It  was  three  years  before  I  was  able  to  redeem  this 
promise,  and  when  I  did,  it  was  in  company  with  the 
dear  and  lovely  lady  who  had  discernment  enough  to 
discover  in  the  slim,  genteel  youth,  whose  many  disad- 
vantages I  had  so  humbly  pitted  against  the  splendid  von 
Marx,  the  dear  companion  by  whose  life-long  love  every 
other  female  image  has  been  displaced,  always  excepting 
the  admiration  I  share  for  her,  with  three  fair  duplicates 
of  herself,  who  now  call  me  their  loving  father. 

When  I  and  my  beloved  bride  reached  H ,  and  I 

had  placed  her  to  rest  in  the  pleasant  apartments  pro- 
vided for  us,  I  hurried  off  to  the  castle  where  my  servants 
had  learned  the  Princess  von  Marx  was  then  residing. 
Great  was  my  chagrin  to  find  neither  my  friend  nor  his 
lady  at  home.  Her  Highness  was  out  at  the  hunt  the 
domestics  told  me,  and  the  professor,^— they  did  n't  know, 
but  they  thought  I  should  find  him  at  the  neighboring 
college.  "At  the  college!"  I  repeated.  ''That  is  odd. 
"What  could  he  be  doing  there  ?  "  They  did  n't  kno  w,  but 
they  believed  he  was  there;  if  not,  they  did  n't  know 
where  he  would  be. 

Hurrying  away,  with  strange  misgivings  in  my  mind, 
I  applied  to  the  chief  janitor  of  the  college,  and  learned 
that  von  Marx  was  professor  of  the  Hebrew  and  Arabic 
languages  in  that  institution,  and  might  be  found  in  his 
own  rooms  in  such  and  such  a  direction. 


GHOST  LAND.  227 

Professor  von  Marx  a  teacher,  and  occupying  shabby 
rooms  in  a  third-rate  college,  whilst  his  illustrious  con- 
sort was  residing  in  a  neighboring  castle  and  amusing 
herself  with  a  hunting  party !  There  was  "  something 
rotten  in  the  state  of  Denmark "  with  a  vengeance,  I 
thought.  I  soon  reached  my  friend's  quarters,  entered 
without  ceremony,  found  him  in,  and  received  such  a 
greeting  as  assured  me  whatever  else  was  changed,  his 
early  friendship  remained.  In  all  other  respects  I  found 
him  a  sadly  altered  man.  He  seemed  to  have  grown 
taller  and  thinner,  though  he  still  retained  his  unparal- 
leled grace  and  symmetry  of  proportion;  his  air  was  as 
commanding  as  ever,  but  it  was  tinctured  with  a  deep 
and  stern  sadness  which  added  many  years  of  age  to  his 
manner;  his  face  though  as  noble  and  handsomer  than 
ever,  was  pale  and  care-worn;  his  brow  was  contracted 
with  an  habitual  frown,  and  there  was  a  fixidity  in  his 
expression  which  almost  made  me  shrink  from  him. 
His  dress,  though  still  gentlemanlike  and  clean,  was 
worn  and  threadbare,  and  the  furniture  of  his  room 
was  beggarly  compared  to  that  which  in  old  times  we 
used  to  share  together.  In  the  corner  of  the  room  was 
a  rude,  evidently  home-made  cot,  shaded  with  a  pure 
white  coverlet,  on  which  were  strewed  wild  flowers,  and 
beneath  which  slept  a  beautiful  child,  the  father  of  whom 
unmistakably  stood  before  me. 

Subdued  in  an  instant  to  the  tone  of  my  friend's 
altered  circumstances  and  appearance,  I  could  only  take 
his  hand  and  stammer  out,  w  How  is  all  this,  Felix?  Let 
us  sit  down  and  talk  it  all  over  like  dear  old  times,  you 
know." 

And  talk  it  over  we  did,  and  for  a  few  hours  the  dear 
old  times  seemed  to  come  back  to  my  friend's  wounded 
spirit. 


228  GHOST  LAND. 

It  was  an  old  story  von  Marx  told  me,  — the  story  of 
a  marriage  which  was  not  made  in  heaven,  and  wherein 
the  hapless  couple  were  yoked,  not  mated.  The  prin- 
cess was  a  gay,  frivolous  butterfly,  utterly  incapable  of 
appreciating  anything  in  her  talented  husband  except 
his  remarkably  handsome  person.  He  was  a  stern,  de- 
voted student  of  the  occult,  who  found  neither  sympa- 
thy nor  companionship  in  his  fashionable  wife;  thus 
before  six  months  had  worn  away,  both  had  bitterly 
repented, — the  one  her  infatuation,  the  other,  the  aston- 
ishing facility  with  which  he  had  suffered  himself  to  be 
"  entrapped." 

Their  lives  of  unceasing  discord  were,  it  is  true, 
interrupted  for  a  time  by  the  birth  of  a  lovely  boy,  upon 
whom  the  unhappy  father  lavished  all  that  wealth  of 
affection  of  which  he  was  so  capable,  could  any  one 
have  found  and  governed  the  secret  of  its  source. 

After  two  years  of  mutual  bitterness  and  recrimina- 
tion the  ill-matched  couple  agreed  to  separate,  and  in 
so  doing  Professor  von  Marx  retired,  as  he  had  for 
some  time  lived,  entirely  upon  the  proceeds  of  his  writ- 
ings, translations,  and  lectures.  He  refused  to  accept 
the  smallest  portion  of  his  wife's  wealth,  and  finding  he 
could  not  obtain  possession  of  his  idolized  child  by 
amicable  arrangement  with  his  lady,  he  actually  carried 
him  off  by  force,  and  held  him  under  an  unceasing 
watch  and  ward  by  the  same  means. 

He  had  gladly  accepted  the  offer  of  a  small  professor- 
ship in  the  poor  college  of  H ,  and  was  now  linger- 
ing in  that  vicinity  awaiting  the  tardy  decision  of  the 
law  in  respect  to  his  boy,  whom  the  princess  sought  to 
reclaim. 

Such  was  the  sum  of  a  history  which  occupied  in  the 
relation  many  hours  of  the  night,  I  heard  it  with  great 


GHOST  LAND.  229 

pain,  not  only  on  my  friend's  account,  but  on  that  of  my 
wife  also.  The  princess  and  herself  had  been  school- 
mates. Educated  at  the  same  convent  in  France,  they 
had  conceived  a  girlish  affection  for  each  other,  and  I 
knew  my  dear  companion,  with  the  zeal  of  her  warm, 
loving  nature,  would  be  sure  to  take  her  friend's  part  in 
the  impending  dispute. 

For  several  weeks  we  lingered  in  the  neighborhood 

of  H ,  vainly  endeavoring  to  effect  a  reconciliation 

between  a  couple  who  had  nothing  in  common  with 
each  other  to  be  reconciled  about. 

With  the  old  sophistry  of  appealing  to  their  sense  of 
religious  duty,  we  endeavored  to  convince  them  they  had 
taken  each  other  "  for  better  or  for  worse,"  and  ought  to 
endure  the  worse  if  worse  it  were.  The  princess  declared 
the  professor  had  no  more  sense  of  religion  than  a  stock  or 
a  stone ;  the  professor  swore  that  the  princess's  religion 
was  all  carried  in  the  feathers  of  her  church-going  hat; 
in  short,  our  efforts  were  as  fruitless  as  nature  intended 
them  to  be.  At  length  the  time  arrived  for  the  decision 
which  was  to  award  the  little  fellow,  who  was  the  only 
tie  of  mutuality  between  them,  to  one  or  other  of  the 
parents,  and  the  law,  by  what  hocus-pocus  I  know  not, 
decided  to  bestow  him  on  the  mother.  The  professoi 
had  left  his  pearl  of  price  in  the  college  building  in 
charge  of  a  trusty  friend,  but  before  he  returned  from 
the  court  to  defend  his  rights,  as  he  certainly  would 
have  done  unto  the  death,  by  force  of  arms,  a  party  of 
German  Jagers  surrounded  the  place  of  the  child's  con- 
cealment, carried  him  off,  and  placed  him  in  his  mother's 
castle,  under  the  protection  of  half  a  regiment  of  well- 
armed  domestics.  Deep  if  not  loud  were  the  curses 
which  the  bereaved  father  uttered,  when  he  returned  to 
find  the  little  cot,  which  he  had  made  and  adorned  with 


230  GHOST  LAND. 

his  own  hands,  empty,  and  his  idol  gone.  Were  those 
curses  vented  on  empty  air  alone,  or  did  they  take 
effect  in  the  realm  where  evil  wishes  -are  registered  by 
evil  though  unseen  powers?  Within  twelve  hours  after 
the  young  boy  was  removed  to  his  mother's  castle,  reach- 
ing out  of  a  window  to  call  piteously  on  what  he  insisted 
upon  declaring  was  the  form  of  his  father  in  the  court- 
yard below,  he  escaped  from  the  grasp  of  his  attendant, 
and  screaming,  "Coming,  papa!  Erny's  coming!"  he 
sprang  through  the  open  window,  fell  nearly  sixty  feet 
into  the  court  below,  and  was  instantly  killed.  Profes- 
sor von  Marx  soon  after  inherited,  by  the  death  of  a 
near  kinsman,  a  small  independent  fortune,  and  a  title 
of  nobility  to  which  he  was  the  next  heir. 

The  title  he  repudiated,  the  fortune  he  claimed,  gen- 
erously offering  to  divide  it  with  his  late  partner,  who 
with  equal  liberality  declined  the  proffer. 

This  was  the  last  communication  the  ill-assorted  pair 
ever  held,  the  professor  having,  as  he  has  since  assured 
me,  never  heard  of  or  sought  to  inquire  for  his  lady  again. 
The  princess  is  still,  as  I  hear,  a  gay  habitue  of  many  an 
European  court;  the  professor,  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated writers  and  lecturers  on  metaphysics  of  which 
the  age  can  boast.  Openly,  he  devotes  himself  to  the 

duties  of  a  professorship  at  the  university  of  B , 

but  privately,  he  has  addicted  himself  to  the  incessant 
study  and  practice  of  occult  arts,  in  which,  throughout 
the  secret  societies  of  the  East,  Germany,  France,  and 
Continental  Europe  generally,  he  is  acknowledged  to 
be  one  of  the  "most  skilful  and  powerful  adepts  that 
ever  lived. 

In  a  correspondence  with  me  which  has  never  been 
interrupted,  he  has  of  late  years  made  frequent  allu- 
sions to  his  deep  interest  in  a  young  Austrian  boy  of 


GHOST  LAND.  231 

noble  birth,  who  was  placed  by  his  parents  for  edu- 
cation at  the  college  of  which  von  Marx  is  still  a 
professor. 

This  child,  he  once  wrote  me  word,  was  born,  the 
very  day  011  which  his  own  idolized  Ernest,  then  only 
two  years  and  a  half  old,  died.  ^Born  one  hour  after 
the  tragic  event,  this  child,"  he  added,  w  strange  to  say, 
resembles  me  so  closely  in  appearance,  that  every  mas- 
ter and  student  in  the  university  remarks  upon  the  like- 
ness. Day  by  day  this  weir«d  resemblance  increases, 
and  if  the  dreams  of  the  re-incarnationists  had  any 
foundation  in  truth,  it  might  have  been  supposed  that 
the  spirit  of  my  precious  Ernest  had  passed  into  the 
form  of  the  infant  born  in  a  far  distant  land  at  the  self- 
same fateful  hour  that  my  Ernest  died.  I  know  these 
are  worse  than  idle  dreams ;  still  I  have  pleased  myself 
at  times  by  indulging  in  them,  just  as  a  weary  man  of 
the  world  might  take  up  at  some  odd  hour  a  fairy  tale 
and  linger  over  the  page  of  fiction. which  once  consti- 
tuted his  childhood's  delight."  * 

*  Since  the  editor  of  these  papers  has  become  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  Chevalier  de  B she  has  frequently  heard  discussed,  the  extraordi- 
nary resemblance  between  him  and  his  adopted  father,  named  in  these 
writings  ''Professor  von  Marx."  A  fine  portrait  of  Professor  von  Marx 
is  to  be  seen  in  a  certain  German  collection  of  oil  paintings,  in  which  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  trace  any  dissimilarity  between  that  and  a  portrait  of 

the  Chevalier  de  B at  the  same  age,  save  in  point  of  costume.    This 

remarkable  resemblance  has  been  frequently  cited  to  the  editor  and  the 
author  also,  in  confirmation  of  the  re-incarnationists'  theory  that  the  soul 
of  the  dead  child  Ernest  had  passed  into  the  new-born  form  of  the  Chev- 
alier, the- period  between  the  decease  and  the  birth  being  only  one  hour, 
and  the  parties,  though  originally  strangers  to  each  other,  having  been  so 
singularly  brought  together  in  later  years.  The  author  has  requested  the 
editor  to  record  here  his  utter  disbelief  in  this  theory,  or  indeed  in  the  doc- 
trine of  re-incarnation  at  all.  He  himself  is  a  firm  believer  in  the  existence 
of  special  types  of  physique  prevailing  throughout  all  the  kingdoms  of 
nature.  He  conceives  that  he  and  his  adopted  father  belonged  to  the 
same  peculiar  type  of  being,  and  that  the  resemblance  first  instituted  in 


232  GHOST  LAND. 

Perhaps  these  circumstances  may  account  for  the 
extraordinary  fancy  which  the  stern  and  otherwise 
ascetic  professor  has  conceived  for  the  young  Chevalier 

de  B .  I  am  advised  that  his  personal  adventures, 

marriage,  and  paternity  have  never  been  revealed  to  his 
protege,  to  whom,  as  he  claims,  he  can  veil  or  disclose 
his  mind  just  as  he  pleases.  Despite  this  boy's  high 
birth,  his  family  have  it  appears,  consented  to  his  adop- 
tion by  the  great  and  learned  Professor  von  Marx ;  and 
this  then  is  the  prodigy,  whom  the  professor  declares  to 
be  the  finest  seer  and  the  most  perfect  ecstatic  upon 
earth,  and  whom  I  hope  soon  to  welcome  as  my  honored 
guest. 

My  dear  wife  and  our  three  charming  girls  are  not,  I 
regret  to  say,  in  sympathy  with  my  spiritualistic  pur- 
suits ;  in  fact,  they  profess  to  be  quite  scandalized  at  the 
idea  of  their  beloved  husband  and  father  being  a  w  ma- 
gician," a  practiser  of  the  ^  black  art,"  a  regular  Zamiel 
or  Ashmodi.  As  to  my  two  boys,  they  are  such  a  rough- 
and-tumble  pair  of  young  profanities  that  I  don't  dare 
to  trust  them  with  any  higher  ideas  on  spiritualistic 
subjects  than  a  mild  ghost  story  or  two  about  Christ- 
mas or  New  Year.  Take  it  on  the  whole,  however,  my 
happy  household  are  all  agreed  to  disagree.  My  magi- 
cal pursuits  moreover,  are  all  conducted  in  other  scenes 
than  my  own  home,  and  whatever  friends  I  do  introduce 
there,  are  ever  warmly  welcomed  by  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren. Professor  von  Marx  is  of  course,  well  known  to 
my  wife,  though  not  altogether  her  special  favorite. 
With  true  womanly  feeling  she  espoused  the  female 
side  of  the  matrimonial  dispute ;  nevertheless  she  was  in 

the  architecture  of  Nature,  was  deepened  to  a  perfect  fac-simile  by  the 
formative  process  of  magnetization  during  a  period  of  many  years,  also 
by  the  strength  of  the  attachment  subsisting  between  the  parties,  which 
tended  to  mould  even  the  expression  of  their  features  into  similarity. 


GHOST  LAND.  233 

the  habit  of  saying  to  me  privately,  that  any  woman 
who  was  bold  enough  to  offer  herself  in  marriage,  de- 
served just  whatever  treatment  she  might  receive;  so, 
take  it  for  all  in  all,  she  did  n't  know  that  the  fault  was 
wholly  on  the  professor's  side. 

March  29.  The  long-looked-for  guests  have  arrived, 
and  I  have  just  returned  from  my  first  visit  of  welcome 
to  them. 

The  changes  which  years  have  wrought  in  my  friend 
Felix  von  Marx,  seem  to  have  intensified  rather  than 
altered  his  marked  characteristics.  In  form  and  face 
he  is  still  superb,  but  his  manners  are  even  colder, 
more  resolute  and  self-centred  than  in  the  days  of 
yore,  when  I  and  all  around  him  bent  before  his  indomi- 
table will,  His  friendship  for  me  still  remains  undimin- 
ished,  but  the  yielding  points  of  his  nature  seem  to  be 
all  called  forth  by  his  protege,  to  whom  his  manner 
always  becomes  softened  when  he  either  speaks  to  or 
even  looks  towards  him.  My  long  and  curious  study 
of  mesmeric  subjects,  natural  somnambulists,  sensi- 
tives, etc.,  has  been  fruitful  of  a  rich  and  strange  expe- 
rience, and  inspired  me  with  much  curiosity  concerning 
the  young  man  for  whom  Professor  von  Marx  and  the 
German  mystics  generally,  make  such  high  claims. 
How  then  can  I  permit  my  pen  to  record  my  first 
impressions  of  this  paragon,  and  own  that  I  was  dis- 
appointed in  him?  Yet  such  is  the  actual  fact.  Per- 
haps I  placed  my  expectations  of  personal  gratification 
too  high;  but  to  me,  he  is  unapproachable;  I  am 
troubled  in  his  presence,  troubled  even  when  I  think 
of  him,  and  yet  I  am  lowered  in  my  own  estimation 
for  being  so.  In  external  appearance  he  so  wonder- 
fully resembles  his  adopted  father,  that  it  would  be 
difficult  for  strangers  to  believe  there  were  no  ties  of 


234  GHOST  LAND. 

relationship  between  them;  the  only  perceptible  differ- 
ences in  these  gentlemen  are  in  respect  to  age  and  the 
fact  that  all  the  sterner  features  of  Professor  von  Marx's 
expression  are  softened  in  his  ward  by  an  excessive 
sensitiveness. 

The  professor's  almost  insupportable  penetration  of 
glance  is  subdued  in  this  boy's  magnificent  dark  eyes, 
by  a  dreamy,  far-off  look,  which  speaks  unmistakably 
of  the  spiritual  mystic.  They  are  truly  perfect  types 
of  a  high  magian  and  his  subject,  but  that  of  which 
I  complain — if  indeed  I  have  any  right  to  use  such  a 
word — is  the  entire  absence  of  pleasure,  earthly  interest 
or  sympathy  in  this  young  man's  manner.  He  received 
me  as  if  he  were  hi  a  dream ;  answered  when  I  addressed 
him,  as  if  by  an  effort  to  recall  himself  to  my  presence 
or  remember  where  he  was.  His  sweet  and  beauti- 
fully modulated  voice,  sounded  a  long  way  off,  and  his 
entire  personel  was  so  statuesque  and  unearthly,  that  I 
could  have  almost  imagined  I  was  a  boy  again,  and  shiv- 
ering under  the  old  superstitious  awe  which  used  to  pos- 
sess me  when  I  deemed  I  was  in  presence  of  a  spirit,  or, 
in  more  homely  phrase,  thought  I  saw  a  ghost. 

I  noticed,  moreover,  the  wonderful,  I  may  truly  say 
the  unspeakable,  understanding  that  subsisted  between 
these  strangely-matched  persons.  Professor  von  Marx 
seldom  addressed  a  word  to  his  friend  during  the  whole 
interview,  yet  the  latter  frequently  rose,  handed  him  a 
book,  some  papers,  or  other  matters  he  required,  without 
any  other  than  a  mental  request.  He  evidently  under- 
stood and  obeyed  the  least  thought  in  the  professor's 
mind,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion  turned  towards 
him,  and  by  silent  looks  replied  to  his  unspoken 
thoughts.  Through  the  same  extraordinary  process  of 
soul  intercourse,  the  professor  would  fix  his  questioning 


GHOST  LAND.  235 

eyes  upon  his  ward,  and  obtain  an  answer  without  one 
syllable  being  interchanged  between  them.  I  have  often 
seen  and  wondered  at  the  remarkable  rapport  which 
existed  between  my  own  mesmerized  subjects  and  my- 
self. I  have  seen  still  more  positive  evidences  of  pure, 
mental  transfer  between  the  Lucides  of  the  celebrated 
Baron  Dupotet,  MM.  Billot,  Deleuze,  and  Cahagnet, 
also  with  a  number  of  my  English  associates,  whose  hon- 
ored names.  I  withhold  in  view  of  my  anonymous  style 
of  writing ;  but  I  never  beheld  any  system  of  soul  inter- 
course so  perfect  as  that  which  existed  between  these 
unrelated  Teutons,  nor  so  complete  an  adept  in  mind- 
reading  as  this  young  Chevalier. 
1  After  a  short  experience  of  the  singular  influence 
diffused  by  this  speechless  intelligence,  I  began  to  com- 
prehend that  it  was  the  source  of  the  troubled  feeling 
which  possessed  me,  and  involuntarily  I  began  to  spec- 
ulate upon  the  possibility  of  the  young  mystic's  reading 
my  mind  with  the  same  facility  that  he  did  his  father's. 
This  thought  not  only  disturbed  me,  but  awoke  these 
spontaneous  reflections  within  me:  "I  wonder  if  he 
knows  I  don't  like  him,"  and,  "I  wish  to  heaven  he 
would  leave  me  alone  with  my  friend."  No  sooner  did 
these  mal-a-propos  ideas  fill  my  mind  than  the  Cheva- 
lier arose,  and  with  a  flushed  face,  and  for  the  first 
time  during  our  interview,  a  furtive  smile  playing 
around  his  lips,  he  bent  to  me  courteously,  apologized 
for  his  indiscretion  in  obtruding  his  presence  "  so-  long 
on  dear  friends  who  must  be  so  very  glad  to  renew  their 
old,  confidential  intercourse  with  each  other,"  and  before 
I  could  stammer  out  any  protest  against  his  obvious 
interpretation  of  my  secret  wishes  he  was  gone. 

The  professor,  who  seemed  more  at  home  and  like  his 
old  self  when  his  sprite  was  gone,  laughed  outright  at 


236  GHOST  LAND. 

my  confusion,  and  cried  cheerily,  w  Never  mind,  John ! 
Louis  knew  just  as  well  as  you  did  that  you  wished 
him  at  the  deuce,  so  of  course  he  retired;  but  don't  let 
that  worry  you,  old  fellow.  The  fact  is,  this  boy  feels 
rather  than  sees  or  hears  what  is  going  on  around  him ; 
but  now  tell  me  candidly,  what  do  you  think  of  him?" 

Once  again  I  began  to  stammer  in  that  ridiculous  way 
of  mine,  when  my  thoughts  are  a  long  way  off  and  want 
collecting,  but  the  professor  saved  me  all  further  trouble 
by  giving  me  such  a  complete  word-picture  of  what 
I  had  actually  thought  in  the  Chevalier's  presence  that  I 
started  up  fairly  aghast,  and  cried,  "  Come,  come,  Felix, 
this  will  never  do !  It  is  bad  enough  to  be  obliged  to 
say  many  things  we  don't  always  think,  but  when  we 
only  think  things  and  don't  say  them,  and  yet  have  them 
all  said  for  us  in  this  remorseless  way,  'pon  my  life !  I 
don't  know  what  is  to  become  of  us.  Felix,  I  am  getting 
to  be  fairly  afraid  of  both  you  and  that  weird  friend  of 
yours." 

w  Well,"  replied  von  Marx,  coolly,  w  if  you  will  ven- 
ture upon  the  enchanted  isle,  and  place  yourself  at  the 
mercy  of  a  Prospero  and  Ariel,  why  you  must  take  the 
consequences;  but  come  now  John,  let  us  talk  as 
of  old,  and  somewhat  more  to  the  purpose.  You 
have  had  great  experience  as  a  magnetizer  since  we  met, 
conversed  with  many  of  the  best  and  most  philosophic 
of  Mesmer's  followers,  both  here  and  on  the  Continent, 
besides  enjoying  the  opportunity  of  analyzing  the  idio- 
syncracies  of  some  hundreds  of  <  sensitives.'  Tell  me, 
then,  what  do  you  think  of  them  as  a  class?" 

w  Felix,"  I  replied,  w  I  will  answer  you  in  the  words 
of  Geiblitz,  that  fine  old  writer  on  mental  philosophy, 
whose  works  you  and  I  used  to  pore  over  so  constantly 
at  "W ,  and  whose  description  of  this  very  class  I 


GHOST  LAND.  237 

was  so  enamoured  with  that  I  committed  several  pag^s 
to  memory.  Geiblitz  says :  — 

r'Now,  as  copper  and  zinc  would  not  form  a  galvanic 
battery  if  the  acid  which  consumes  the  metals  acted  on 
both  alike,  neither  would  the  thunder  roll  or  the  light- 
nings flash  if  the  two  clouds  that  met  in  mid-air  were 
equal  in  force  and  polarity,  one  with  the  other,  so  would 
there  be  no  exhibition  of  soul  galvanism,  or  mental  light- 
nings, if  the  body  in  which  they  shone  was  all  equili- 
brium, and  the  person  was  well  composed  and  evenly 
balanced.  Me  thinks  all  history  shows  us  that  the  ecstatic 
or  seer  must  be  an  inharmonious  being.  Something  ails 
him  which  disturbs  his  balance  or  sets  the  measure  of 
equilibrium  at  odds,  before  he  can  admit  another  mind 
to  govern  him. 

?  Thus  it  was  with  the  great  fabulist,  ^Esop,  who  was 
an  idiot  in  all  things  but  the  strong  point  of  allegorical 
composition  which,  to  my  mind,  was  pure  inspiration. 
So  also  with  Eobert  Nixon,  the  Cheshire  prophet,  who 
was  also  foolish,  yet  subject  to  that  high  inspiration 
which  prophesied  through  his  lips.  Again,  with  Chet- 
wynd,  the  fool  of  the  great  Saxon  monarch,  and  many 
others,  who,  although  so  silly  as  to  be  marked  with  the 
fool's  cap  and  bells,  yet  when  the  spirit  spoke  through 
them,  did  give  utterance  to  prophecy  and  wiser  things 
than  most  other  men.  And  if  the  intellect  be  well  com- 
posed, then  must  we  look  to  find  a  lack  of  balance 
amongst  the  moral  qualities;  for  example;  Cagliostro 
and  Kelly,  both  being  great  seers  and  governors  of 
spiritual  things,  were  yet  knaves.  Bohemians,  Gypsies, 
and  Zingari  are  all  thieves  and  cheats,  yet  they  know 
the  future  better  than  many  wise  men,  and  can  see 
farther  with  their  soul's  eyes  than  most  men  with  their 
telescopes.'  In  short,  Felix,"  I  continued,  seeing  that  my 


238  GHOST  LAND. 

quotations  were  beginning  to  be  more  dangerous  than 
apt,  "  you  and  I,  at  a  very  early  period  of  our  investiga- 
tions, came  to  the  conclusion  that  fine  sensitives  or  high 
magnetic  subjects  must  be  unevenly  balanced  or  lack 
equilibrium  somewhere.  They  must  be  either  fools  like 
ISTixon,  and  therefore  good  subjects  for  the  control  of 
others,  knaves  like  the  Bohemians,  and  in  constant  rap- 
port with  the  elementaries,  or  sick  sensitives  like  St. 
Bridgetta,  St.  Catherine,  and  other  saints  of  great 
renown,  who  floated  in  air,  bore  the  stigmata,  prophe- 
sied, read  every  mind,  and  —  and  —  were,  in  a  word,  so 
highly  endowed  with  spiritualistic  gifts." 

"How  about  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  Appolonius  of  Tyana, 
and  Joan  of  Arc?"  said  the  professor,  dryly.  "Were 
they  fools,  knaves,  or  sick  sensitives?" 

''Well,"  I  replied,  taken  something  aback,  "Jesus 
was  undoubtedly  very  sensitive,  as  his  susceptibility  to 
human  suffering  and  pain  demonstrated ;  Appolonius 
was  said  to  be  an  epileptic,  though  I  can't  vouch  for  the 
fact;  and  as  to  Joan  of  Arc,  we  know  she  was  a  very 
melancholy  young  person,  remarkably  fond  of  the  sound 
of  bells  in  her  youth,  besides  being  very  pious,  which  I 
regard  as  a  sign  of  a  morbid  temperament,  to  say  the 
least  of  it." 

:?  Well,  well ! "  interrupted  von  Marx,  impatiently. 
"  Set  your  brains  no  more  to  wool-gathering  to  find  out 
similitudes.  My  Louis  is  at  once  the  purest  being  in 
the  world,  and  endowed  with  the  finest  and  most  com- 
prehensive intellect,  but  he  is  just  as  fragile  in  phy- 
sique as  your  argument  would  need  to  prove  him.  But 
for  the  constant  and  steady  infusion  of  my  magnetism, 
his  soul  would  long  since  have  escaped  from  so  frail 
a  tenement  as  he  bears  about  with  him.  Will  that  sat- 
isfy you?" 


GHO&T  LAND.  239 

• 

"  Felix, "  I  said,  looking  steadily  into  my  friend's 
troubled  eyes,  "  tell  me ;  is  it  a  normal  or  healthful  life 
for  one  human  being  to  live  upon  the  magnetism  of 
another?  I  know  it  can  be  done,  but  is  it  in  the  sweet 
and  natural  order  of  creation?  " 

"^N"o,  John,"  replied  my  friend,  sadly,  "it  is  not,  and 
I  have  often  felt  it  was  not.  But  when  do  we  enter 
upon  any  new  and  untried  path  and  see  the  end  from  the 
beginning?  .  When  do  we  determine  how  far  we  may 
drift  before  necessity  or  some  strong  impulse  forces  us 
to  stop?  I  commenced  magnetizing  this  adopted  child 
of  mine,  first,  for  the  sake  of  continuing  my  experiments, 
then  because  I  and  the  Berlin  Brotherhood  found  in  him 
a  rare  and  unusual  combination  of  splendid  powers.  We 
all  know  that  the  most  passive  mentality,  or  that  which 
in  ordinary  life  would  be  mere  imbecility,  often  supplies 
the  best,  because  the  most  unsoiled  tablet  for  the  inscrip- 
tion of  a  foreign  mental  power.  We  have  also  proved 
that  the  same  aromal  life  principle  which  clusters  in  excess 
about  the  cerebellum,  and  makes  its  subject  sensual,  ac- 
quisitive, or  destructive,  furnishes  in  many  instances  the 
potency  by  which  the  elementaries  and  earthy  spirits  can 
control  mortals;  hence  we  so  frequently  see  fools  and 
knaves  endowed  with  those  spiritual  gifts  which  plead  for 
the  intervention  of  the  daemons,  but  here  we  have  an  excep- 
tion to  all  such  experiences.  Here  is  a  being  of  the  noblest 
and  least  guileful  character  that  ever  lived,  and  yet  so  in- 
tellectually bright,  that  he  acquires  knowledge  with  magi- 
cal intuition.  Ere  he  had  been  our  subject  long,  I  am  well 
convinced  if  our  society  had  been  one  of  the  fanatical  kind 
that  were  likely  to  be  entangled  in  religious  absurdities, 
we  should  have  exalted  this  boy  into  a  new  Messiah,  hailed 
him  as  a  tenth  incarnation  of  Vishnu  or  a  modern  Buddha. 

"Delighted  with  my  prize,  and  somehow  always  asso- 


240  GHOST  &AND. 

elating  him  with  that  little  one  whose  cot  I  made  with 
these  hands,  — John,  you  remember,  —  I  gradually  drew 
him  away  from  all  other  influences  than  my  own.  I 
have  watched  the  dawning  of  his  noble  manhood  as 
an  astronomer  would  watch  for  a  new  planet.  I  put 
my  life  upon  him,  trained  the  tendrils  of  his  lonely 
being  to  cling  around  me  with  all  the  wealth  of  a 
passionately  loving  nature  concentred  on  one  object. 

"Many  a  time  when  the  life  had  nearly  ebbed  away, 
and  the  thread  which  bound  him  to  mortality  became 
so  attenuated  that  my  earth-dimmed  eyes  could  scarcely 
discover  it,  by  a  mighty  wrench  of  will,  by  the  throb- 
bing of  my  whole  heart's  love  poured  out  upon  him, 
and  the  vials  of  my  own  life  drained  to  supply  his,  I 
have  succeeded  in  dragging  him  back  to  me,  keeping 
him  alive,  and  seeing  him  grow  into  a  spiritual,  phys- 
ical, and  intellectual  beauty  that  knows  no  peer  on 
earth.  John,  do  you  remember  the  story  of  the  Ger- 
man student,  Frankenstein?  He  made  a  monster,  I  an 
angel.  His  was  the  story  of  a  myth,  mine  that  of  a 
scientific  truth.  Is  there  no  gain  to  the  cause  of  science 
in  the  success  of  my  singular  experiment?  "  The  strange 
man  paused,  wrought  up  to  the  most  intense  pitch  of 
emotion,  and  gazing  at  me  with  an  almost  imploring  ex- 
pression, asked,  "Have  I  not  cause  to  love  him,  John?" 

"Ay,"  I  replied,  with  equal  emotion,  "you  cannot 
fail  to  do  so ;  still  you  have  not  answered  my  question, 
Is  such  a  life  as  his  normal,  healthful,  right?" 

"No,"  he  answered,  firmly,  "and  never  will  be 
whilst  —  " 

"Whilst  what?"  I  asked,  eagerly. 

*  Whilst  I  live,"  he  half  whispered;  "but  enough  of 
this  now.  I  know  he  is  not  a  creature  of  earth,  but  he 
is  mine,  all  my  own,  the  angel  side  of  myself,  and  I 


GHOST  LAND.  241 

will  yet  think  out  a  bright  destiny  for  him,  or  wreck 
myself  body  and  soul  in  the  attempt." 

I  was  subdued,  awed,  by  the  depth  of  this  strong  man's 
fierce  love  for  the  creature  he  had  made,  and  whilst  I  was 
not  less  struck  by  the  obvious  return  the  young  man  gave 
in  his  deep  and  absorbing  affection  for  his  adopted  father, 
I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  realize  the  angelic  excellence 
of  which  the  professor  boasted.  To  me  there  was  some- 
thing wanting  in  this  singular  being's  nature.  He  was 
too  unsympathetic,  too  anti-human  for  an  angel;  too 
dreamy,  exalted,  and  visionary  for  a  man.  I  almost  felt  as 
if  he  either  lacked  a  soul  or  was  so  much  of  soul  that  he 
had  no  business  with  a  body.  He  was  a  problem  I  could 
not  solve ;  in  fact,  the  whole  visit  left  such  an  uncomfortable 
feeling  upon  my  mind,  that  I  began  to  half  surmise  my  dear 
wife  was  right,  and  that  in  meddling  with  matters  too  high 
for  us,  we  poor  mortals  are  apt  to  get  out  of  our  depths. 

One  thing  was  certain :  a  train  of  speculation  in  which 
I  had  been  indulging  prior  to  the  advent  of  my  friends, 
fell  to  the  ground  with  a  crash.  The  truth  is,  I  had 
heard  that  the  young  heir  of  the  great  Professor  von 
Marx  was  of  noble  birth,  wonderfully  handsome,  and 
altogether  a  most  eligible  parti;  hence,  with  what  my 
eldest  daughter,  Sophia,  called,  my  inveterate  spirit  of 
match-making,  I  had  already  got  up  a  little  imaginary 
romance  between  this  preux  chevalier  and  a  certain 
fair  Lady  Rosa,  a  dazzling  creature  whom  I  strongly 
affected,  and  who  had  always  promised  to  marry  only 
just  that  particular  person  whom  dear  Uncle  John  should 
select.  ]Sfow,  this  was  not  the  only  lovely  creature  I 
had  destined  for  my  interesting  young  foreign  guest, 
but  now,  whew!  before  I  quitted  the  presence  of  this 
young  mystic,  or  could  shake  off  the  remembrance  of 
his  soul-haunting,  far-away-looking  dark  eyes,  I  came  to 

16 


242  GHOST  LAND. 

the  conclusion  I  might  as  well  expect  the  north  star  or 
one  of  the  Pleiades  to  come  down  and  woo  the  Rosies 
and  Sophies  of  fashionable  life  as  this  unearthly  Chevalier 

de  B .  With  my  old  habit  of  putting  my  reflections 

into  shape  I  mentally  exclaimed  as  I  passed  down-stairs, 
w  I  '11  wager  that  this  young  fellow  has  got  a  spirit 
bride  somewhere  off  in  one  of  the  planets.  Perhaps  he 
might  deign  to  chant  a  sonnet  to  a  Sylph  or  serenade  an 
Undine;  but  as  to  his  falling  in  love  with  any  of  the 
pretty  butterflies  that  call  me  dear  papa  or  darling  old 
uncle,  pshaw!  I'll  go  and  put  all  the  girls  on  their 
guard  against  him,  or  else  they  will  be  throwing  away 
their  hearts  upon  a  streak  of  moonlight." 

"Have  no  fear  of  that,  senor;  your  butterflies  are  all 
safe  from  me,"  said  the  sweet  voice  and  soft  Italian 
accent  of  the  Chevalier,  close  to  my  ear. 

Turning  round  in  the  entrance-hall  hastily  to  face  this 
audacious  mind-reader,  I  encountered  —  nothing!  Save 
-for  the  Irish  porter  who  held  the  hall-door  open  for  me, 
-not  a  creature  was  within  sight  or  hearing.  Quitting 
-the  house  with  a  little  more  than  my  ordinary  precipita- 
tion, I  hurried  into  the  street  hoping  that  in  a  strong 
current  of  east  wind,  I  might  at  least  be  free  to  think  or 
resolve  never  to  enter  that  weird  house  again,  unless 
indeed,  I  could  leave  my  thoughts  at  home,  or  in  some 
distant  scene  which  the  wizard's  spell  could  not  reach. 

That  -afternoon,  having  retired  to  my  library,  and  ac- 
cording to  custom  being  about  to  compose  myself  to  take 
half  an  hour's  siesta 'before  dressing  for  dinner,  I  was 
startled  by  the  noiseless  opening  of  the  door,  which,  by 
the  by,  I  generally  locked  on  such  occasions.  Looking 
up  in  surprise,  it  being  against  the  rule  of  that  charmed 
scene  even  for  my  own  daughters  to  enter  without  knock- 
ing at  the  door,  I  beheld,  in  a  maze  of  astonishment 


GHOST  LAND.  243 

which  kept  me  speechless,  the  young  Chevalier  de  B . 

Speaking  in  an  earnest,  pleading  tone,  which  somehow 
filled  my  eyes  with  an  irrepressible  moisture,  he  said, 
"Dear  sir,  there  are  some  beings  on  earth  who  are 
not  yet  born  into  actual  humanity.  It  requires  for  them 
a  great  change,  most  commonly  a  great  sorrow,  to  effect 
that  new  birth  in  which  the  true  union  between  body 
and  soul  takes  place.  One  man  may  know  many  births 
and  deaths  in  the  course  of  a  single  life  pilgrimage,  and 
I  am  one  of  those  who  must  be  born  again,  conceived 
in  sorrow  and  born  tkrough  great  anguish,  before  I  can 
be  really  the  man  my  too  fond  father  deems  me.  To  be 
a  man  I  must  be  endowed  with  the  passions  of  one,  — 
with  vices  as  well  as  virtues,  and  criminal  as  well  as 
noble  tendencies.  As  yet,  the  humanity  which  makes  a 
full-grown  soul  is  lacking  in  me,  and  I  am  not  good, 
because  I  am  not  bad;  not  virtuous,  pure,  or  noble,  be- 
cause I  have  no  opposite  propensities  to  rise  above.  My 
poor  father  has  not  created  an  angel,  only  endowed  this 
frail  form  with  a  spiritual  essence  which  yet  lacks  parts 
and  passions.  But  O  dear  sir !  the  hour  approaches  when 
I  shall  be  born  again  through  a  maternity  of  great  sorrow. 
In  that  hour  I  shall  stand  in  direst  need  of  a  human  friend 
and  helper:  will  you  not  be  that  friend?  The  world  of 
spirits  pleads  with  you  for  me,  their  child  and  servant." 
At  the  conclusion  of  this  extraordinary  speech,  every 
syllable  of  which  seems  to  me  to  have  been  indelibly 
engraven  on  the  tablets  of  my  memory,  he  extended 
his  hand  towards  me.  As  I  was  about  to  grasp 
it,  my  eye  was  arrested  by  the  sight  of  the  word 
ISABELLA  inscribed  in  finely-formed,  crimson  letters 
across  the  palm  of  his  small,  white  hand.  This  was  the 
name  of  my  deeply-cherished  and  long-lamented  dear 
mother.  I  had  often  prayed  that  if  the  soul  was  immor- 


244  GHOST  LAND. 

tal,  could  live,  love,  and  know  those  they  had  left  on 
earth,  especially  if  they  could  minister  to  them,  this  most 
tender  mother  might  be  permitted  to  give  me  some  sign 
which  should  convince  me  of  the  stupendous  fact  of  her 
immortal  being.  No  response  had  ever  before  been 
vouchsafed  to  my  soul's  deep  aspiration,  but  even  as  I 
gazed  on  that  familiar  name,  and  saw  the  letters  melt  or 
fade  slowly  away  in  the  outstretched  hand  before  me, 
the  thought  was  irresistibly  borne  in  upon  my  mind 
that  here  was  the  proof  I  sought.  I  have  since,  during 
the  modern  dispensation  of  Spiritualism,  seen  many  a 
name  of  the  beloved  ones  gone  before,  inscribed  in  fleshly 
characters  upon  a  medium's  body.  I  had  heard  of  such 
stigmata  appearing  amongst  my  friends  the  French 
magnetists,  but  never  had  I  witnessed  aught  so  wonder- 
ful, aught  that  took  so  deep  a  hold  upon  my  inmost 
convictions  of  spiritual  identity  before.  As  the  letters 
faded,  I  rubbed  my  eyes,  started,  rubbed  them  again,  and 
with  my  characteristic  slowness  was  about  to  seize  the 
young  man's  hand,  and  make  a  speech,  assuring  him  of 
my  eternal  friendship  and  devotion  to  him,  under  what- 
ever circumstances  he  might  command  it,  when  lo!  he 
was  gone.  I  rushed  to  the  only  door  in  the  room,  and 
found  it  locked  on  the  inside  just  as  I  had  left  it. 

Returning  to  my  library  table  I  found  a  volume  of 
Shakespeare  unclasped;  open  at  the  play  of  w  The  Tem- 
pest," a  leaf  turned  down,  —  a  liberty  I  never  allowed 
with  my  books,  —  and  a  deep  pencil-mark  drawn  under- 
neath these  lines  of  the  fair  Miranda's :  — 

"  Believe  me,  sir,  it  carries  a  brave  form,  —  but 't  is  a  spirit." 

And  thus  began  our  campaign  with  the  Prospero  and 
Ariel  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Felix  von  Marx  and  his 
adopted  son,  the  Chevalier  de  B . 


CHAPTEE 

DIARY  OF  JOHN  CAVENDISH  DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  CONTINUED. 

February  10, 18  .  On  looking  over  the  fragmen- 
tary entries  that  my  diary  presents  during  the  last  few 
months,  I  am  painfully  conscious  that  the  records  are 
not  of  a  sufficiently  consecutive  character  to  weave  into 
the  body  of  this  narrative,  at  least  not  without  more 
revision  than  I  have  now  time  or  opportunity  to  bestow 
on  them.  During  these  eventful  months  there  has  been 
so  much  that  has  been  new  and  marvellous  to  us  all; 
even  we,  who  have  been  accustomed  to  witness  the  exhi- 
bitions of  abnormal  spiritual  powers  through  our  clair- 
voyants and  somnambulists,  as  well  as  at  our  magical 
seances,  have  been  so  startled  at  the  extraordinary 
phenomena  introduced  amongst  us  by  our  German 
friends,  that  we  seem  to  have  commenced  a  new  era  in 
our  experiences,  and  I  feel  the  necessity  of  recording 
our  testimony  with  more  than  usual  care  and  caution. 
Strange  rumors  too  are  abroad  that  new  and  wonder- 
ful disclosures  are  being  made  to  mortals  amongst  the 
matter-of-fact,  commercial  Americans,  and  by  what  can 
we  suppose?  Actually,  it  is  affirmed  by  spirits  in  per- 
son! spirits  of  the  dead,  or  rather  the  spirits  of  those 
the  world  calls  dead,  who,  so  say  these  floating  rumors 
of  a  waking  w  Arabian  Night's  Dream,"  are  not  dead  at 
all,  but  alive,  and  as  inhabitants  of  a  progressed  world, 
have  found  a  way  to  telegraph  to  the  friends  they  have 


246  GHOST  LAND. 

left  as  bereaved  mourners,  assuring  them  they  are  all  in 
life,  in  the  full  possession  of  their  faculties ;  see  us,  know 
us,  love  us  still,  and  come  into  communication  with  us  by 
sounds  and  signals  that  they  find  the  means  of  making, 
through  those  very  persons  who  were  formerly  our 
somnambulists,  seers,  and  mesmeric  subjects. 

May  not  this  be  the  secret  of  the  young  Chevalier's 
wonderful  and  abnormal  surroundings?  He  and  his 
father  claim  that  all  we  see  and  hear  is  the  work  of  the 
elementaries  whom  they  command,  and  planetary  angels 
who  attend  upon  them  and  signal  to  them  through  this 
youth's  trances  and  the  professor's  magical  power  over 
spirits. 

We  are  all  lost  in  conjecture.  Whatever  be  the  new 
dispensation  dawning  upon  us,  if  something  still  more 
potent  than  magnetism,  still  more  occult  than  somnam- 
bulism, be  at  hand  to  startle  us  from  our  dreams  of 
earth  and  earthly  things,  then  must  this  magical 
friend  of  mine  and  his  strange  companion  be  its  her- 
alds. For  my  part  I  can  not  see  whither  we  are  drifting, 
scarcely  can  I  discern  my  way  amongst  the  scenes  of 
mystery  that  are  now  deepening  around  me.  Professor 
von  Marx  is  very  jealous  of  his  young  seer's  gifts.  He 
himself  is  reticent  and  fearfully  sensitive.  The  won- 
derful powers  these  men  possess  should  be  at  the  com- 
mand of  science,  yet  they  are  all  limited  to  our  most 
secret  sessions,  and  scenes  which,  if  reported,  would 
scarcely  obtain  credit,  even  with  those '  who  best  know 
and  trust  me,  are  permitted  to  pass  by  like  the  phantas- 
magoria of  an  unquiet  dream  with  hardly  a  record. 
How  true  it  is  that  the  greatest  gifts  seldom  accompany 
the  best  dispositions  to  use  them ! 

These  German  magicians,  whose  impulses  are  as 
erratic  as  the  visions  that  they  produce,  have  now  been 


GHOST  LAND.  247 

absent  some  months.  They  left  us  as  suddenly  as  they 
came;  their  purpose  was  to  travel  through  North  Brit- 
ain, as  I  understood,  but  now  I  learn  that  after  making 
some  visits  among  our  associates  in  Scotland  and  Wales 
they  have  disappeared  altogether. 

February  25.  Letters  have  been  received  from 
Professor  von  Marx.  He  is  coming  back  to  London 
for  a  few  days,  and  sends  me  word  he  wishes  to  join  our 
next  meeting  of  the  Orphic  Society  on  Friday  night. 
How  did  he  know  we  had  called  a  special  seance  for 
Friday  night?  but  pshaw!  why  do  I  question?  He 
knows  everything,  and  what  he  does  n't  know  the  Chev- 
alier can  tell  him.  ]STo  matter,  he  will  be  dearly  wel- 
come to  us  all.  He  leaves  his  son  in  the  North,  he 
writes  me  word,  rusticating  in  a  quiet  village  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health.  Of  course  they  won't  stay  long 
apart;  however,  I  will  now  go  to  his  lodgings  and  find 
out  when  to  expect  him. 

March  3.  Professor  von  Marx  has  now  been  with  us 
nearly  a  week.  He  attended  one  seance  at  the  Orphic 
Circle  on  the  evening  of  his  arrival,  and  by  desire  of 
our  guardian  spirits,  we  are  to  have  another  session 
to-night.  Great  results  are  promised  us,  but,  I  scarce 
know  why,  there  is  a  singular  depression  on  my  spirits, 
and  one  which  seems  in  a  measure  to  affect  our  whole 
society.  Let  us  hope  that  the  to-night's  seance  will 
serve  to  disperse  the  clouds. 

MINUTES    OF    THE    PROCEEDINGS    AT    THE    ORPHIC   CIRCLE    HELD 

MARCH  3. 

Present  tlie  usual  number  of  members  and  officers, 
the  neophytes,  Estelle,  Sarina,  and  Marcus,  two  Brothers 
from  Malta,  and  one  honorary  member,  Professor  Felix 
von  Marx.  John  C.  Dudley,  Recording  Secretary. 


248  GHOST  LAND. 

After  the  customary  preliminaries  of  opening  our  ses- 
sion, and  the  business  arrangements  had  been  disposed 
of,  it  was  announced  that  this  was  an  "open  meeting"; 
at  which  visitors  might  be  introduced,  whilst  the  pro- 
ceedings should  be  subject  to  general  discussion,  or  if 
desirable  to  publication.  [I  may  here  state  that  our 
society  was  a  private,  if  not  absolutely  a  secret  one, 
hence  our  sessions  were  only  canvassed  openly,  or  the 
phenomena  occurring  therein  reported  beyond  our  lodge- 
room,  when  we  received  intimation  from  our  guardians 
(planetary  angels)  that  the  meetings  were  to  be  "open 
ones."  The  seance  called  for  the  3d  of  March,  and 
one  which  was  announced  to  follow,  were  to  come  under 
this  category  and  be  open  to  reports  of  what  might 
transpire.]  Considering  the  high  expectations  with 
which  we  had  come  together  that  evening,  our  session 
was  less  animated  than  we  had  anticipated.  Professor 
von  Marx  was  unusually  sad  and  abstracted. 

Amongst  other  subjects,  we  discussed  reservedly,  but 
somewhat  pointedly,  the  reflex  action  likely  to  be  pro- 
duced upon  a  magnetizer  by  his  subject.  We  were  led 
to  consider  this  subject  all  the  more  earnestly,  by  the 
obvious  depression  and  restlessness  manifested  in  Pro- 
fessor von  Marx's  manner  in  the  absence  of  his  beloved 

protege,  the  Chevalier  de  B .  The  professor  took  the 

ground  that  no  such  reflex  action  could  ensue  if  the 
operator  was  well-composed  and  self-centred.  Lord 

L and  Sir  Peter  S were  in  favor  of  the  reflex 

hypothesis,  and  I  cited  the  professor's  own  change  of 
manner  and  deep  anxiety,  now  that  he  was  absent  from 
his  best  subject,  in  contrast  with  his  invariable  compo- 
sure and  self-possession  when,  as  in  earlier  visits,  his 
friend  was  present  with  him  at  our  circle.  Von  Marx 
acknowledged  the  disturbing  effect  of  the  Chevalier's 


GHOST  LAND.  249 

absence  upon  his  mind,  but  added  in  a  tone  of  stern 
self-reproach,  that  it  was  ever  a  failing  in  the  true  adept 
to  cherish  human  affection,  and  that  the  intense  emotion 
which  was  expended  on  personal  interests,  always  marred 
the  procedures  of  deliberate  science. 

Our  experiments  with  the  neophytes  on  this  occasion 
were  less  satisfactory  than  usual,  and  they  evidently  felt 
the  oppression  cast  by  the  overpowering  influence  of 
the  professor's  disturbed  mind.  We  exchanged  greet- 
ings successfully  with  the  circle  at  L ,  and  neophyte 

Alexander's  "  atmospheric  spirit"  visited  us  from  M . 

"We  had  some  interesting  visions  in  the  mirror,  but 
the  crystal  spirits  could  not  obtain  force  enough  to 
appear.  At  the  usual  hour,  when  our  "Rulers"  were 
accustomed  to  give  us  some  spontaneous  phenomena  by 
way  of  climax  to  our  meeting,  we  asked,  through  our  best 

ludde  present,  Mile.  Estelle,  if  the  Chevalier  de  B 

could  not  visit  us.  Starting  hastily  from  his  seat,  and 
speaking  in  violation  of  our  usual  order,  the  professor 
exclaimed,  "  No,  no!  I  would  not  have  it  so,  —  that  is 
-I  beg  pardon  of  all  present,  but -I  would  prefer  to 
waive  this  visit." 

Instantly  the  lucide  became  demagnetized,  the  "Ru- 
lers" vanished  from  the  mirrors,  and  the  lights  became 
quite  dim,  the  fires,  sunk  in  the  braziers,  and  the  whole 
scene  bore  testimony  to  our  visitor's  indiscretion. 

Recovering  his  composure  in  a  few  minutes,  the  pro- 
fessor apologized  for  his  irregular  action,  and  reluctantly 
assented  to  our  wishes.  The  formulas,  which  I  am  not 
at  liberty  to  describe,  by  which  an  "  atmospheric  spirit " 
or  "  flying  soul "  is  summoned,  being  gone  through,  the 
professor  produced,  as  if  by  a  strong  effort,  a  piece  of 
a  waving  lock  of  black  hair  cut  from  his  beloved  pupil's 
head,  and  with  still  more  hesitancy  than  usual,  submitted 


250  GHOST  LAND. 

it  to  the  fire  of  the  brazier.  As  the  leaping  flame 
seized  on  the  beautiful  lock,  von  Marx,  as  if  repenting 
such  a  sacrifice,  drew  it  hastily  away.  A  small  portion 
of  the  crisped  hair  however,  adhered  to  the  brazier,  but 
no  sound  of  invocation  moved  the  magician's  lips.  The 
lights  were  again  sinking,  and  the  neophytes  shrank 
back,  trembling  and  disturbed,  when  a  blast  of  cold 
air  rushed  through  the  apartment,  a  deep-drawn  sigh 
resounded  in  our  ears,  and  the  lights  flashed  up  for  a 
moment  disclosing  what  seemed  to  be  the  form  of  the 

Chevalier  de  B extended  on  a  visionary  couch, 

apparently  in  a  deep  sleep.  It  was  the  first  time  the 
apparition  of  a  slumbering  "flying  soul"  had  been 
amongst  us,  and  as  the  Chevalier  had  often  thus  spirit- 
ually visited  and  communicated  with  us  before,  we 
attributed  his  present  entrancement  to  the  professor's 
failure  in  fulfilling  the  conditions  of  evocation.  Yet 
we  all  beheld  him  plainly,  and  sympathized  with  the 
professor  as  he  bent  over  his  adopted  son's  form  with 
apparent  sentiments  of  rapt  interest  and  admiration. 

""Waken  him!"  whispered  Sir  Peter  S .  "We 

would  speak  with  him." 

"  Not  for  worlds ! "  murmured  the  professor,  extend- 
ing his  arms  towards  the  vision.  "  He  will  waken  all  too 
soon.  Sleep  on,  my  Louis,  and  —  farewell !  " 

In  an  instant  a  strange,  distant  cry  seemed  to  resound 
through  the  apartment,  and  the  form  of  the  sleeper 
started  up  and  seemed  to  cast  itself  into  the  professor's 
arms.  Something  of  an  indescribable  character  that  I 
have  never  seen  or  realized  in  any  other  presence  than 
that  of  these  Germans,  then  seemed  to  cast  a  spell  over 
us  all,  preventing  us  for  the  moment,  from  seeing,  hear- 
ing, or  collecting  our  thoughts.  It  has  often  been  re- 
peated in  the  presence  of  the  Chevalier  de  B , 


GHOST  LAND.  251 

and  is  the  nearest  approach  to  my  idea  of  w glamour" 
or  that  which  the  Hindoos  have  a  word  for  signifying 
illusion,  I  ever  experienced.  It  lasts  but  a  few  seconds, 
and  on  the  occasion  I  write  of,  came  and  went  like  the 
lightning's  flash.  When  it  was  dispelled,  the  couch,  the 
ff  flying  soul,"  and  the  professor  himself  were  all  gone. 
Nothing  could  restore  composure  to  our  lucides  after 
this,  and  our  circle  broke  up  after  arranging  with  our 
guides  to  meet  again  on  the  following  night.  Lord 

L was  instructed  to  notify  the  absent  members,  also 

to  invite  Professor  von  Marx's  special  attendance,  he 
having  promised  to  be  present  at  our  next  seance. 

How  shall  I  record  the  events  which  immediately 
succeeded  my  last  entry,  or  attempt  to  hand  down  to 
posterity  statements  so  entirely  out  of  ordinary  human 
experience  that  I  could  scarcely  hope  to  obtain  credit  for 
them  did  I  testify  to  their  truth  on  solemn  oath  before  the 
world?  Although  at  the  present  time  modern  spiritual- 
ism, with  its  array  of  well-attested  marvels,  has  become 
a  fixed  fact,  and  at  the  time  when  these  lines  will  meet 
the  public  eye,  the  details  I  record  will  have  become  the 
accepted  belief  of  millions,  still  the  circumstances  which 
surround  my  narrative  present  an  air  of  incredibility, 
which  the  matter-of-fact,  commonplace  methods  of  the 
Spiritualists  are  wholly  lacking  in.  I  write  of  appa- 
ritions, phantoms,  sounds,  and  motions  which  appealed 
to  unaccustomed  witnesses ;  came  upon  us  with  all  the 
awful  paraphernalia  of  magical  surroundings,  and  at  a 
period  when  our  hearts  were  possessed  with  an  over- 
whelming dread  of  revelations  from  the  world  of  spirit- 
ual existence.  The  Spiritualists  now  meet  in  jolly  par- 
ties, and  hail  their  spiritual  visitants  with  fun  and  frolic, 
hence  the  very  same  manifestations  which  custom  has 
invested  with  the  prestige  of  a  fashionable  amusement 


252  GHOST  LAND. 

were,  in  the  time  of  which  I  write,  surrounded  with  a 
halo  of  preternatural  light,  borrowed  in  part  from  the 
occult  reputation  of  supernaturalism,  but  still  more 
colored  by  the  stupendous  interests  and  heart-felt  sym- 
pathies which  were  awakened  in  our  spiritual  seances. 
Bear  with  me,  then,  my  readers,  whilst  I  relate  to  you 
a  scene  whose  weird  horrors  would  now  be  received 
calmly  and  with  the  same  meed  of  applause  which  you 
would  bestow  on  a  successful  operatic  performance,  but 
which,  at  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  excited  such  terror 
and  deep  agitation  in  every  witness's  mind  that  nothing 
that  has  ever  occurred  since  has  sufficed  to  efface  its 
terrible  memories. 

Let  me  recite  the  narrative  from  the  ordinary  extracts 
in  my  diary,  which  read  as  follows :  — 

March  5.  Meeting  in  session  and  duly  inaugurated. 
Present :  twenty  members,  all  our  officers,  and  the  four 
Lucides  of  the  month. 

One  hour  passed  away  after  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion, but  Professor  von  Marx  did  not  appear.  At  10 
p.  M.  our  Lucides,  without  a  word  exchanged,  and  as  if 
by  a  concert  of  action,  rose  and  assumed  their  places  at 
the  four  quarters  of  the  lodge  as  if  we  were  not  in  open 
but  secret  session.  All  four  were  deeply  entranced. 
Soon  after  this  movement,  they  sang  a  sweet  and  exqui- 
site improvisation,  at  the  close  of  which  they  joined  in 
a  well-known  hymn,  their  fine  voices  attuned  to  such  a 
pure  and  rich  harmony,  that  every  heart  present  felt  its 
resistless  spell.  It  was  not  until  the  singers  had  ceased, 
that  we  perceived,  by  the  dim  light  of  the  four  altai 
lamps,  Professor  Marx  was  amongst  us.  He  had  entered 
noiselessly  and  unseen  by  any  one ;  in  fact,  how  he  had 
entered  was  a  mystery,  the  seance  being  conducted 
with  doors  locked  and  guarded.  The  professor  had 


GHOST  LAND.  253 

not  taken  his  usual  place  amongst  the  members,  but 
stationed  himself  in  one  of  the  seats  assigned  to  visi- 
tors, although  there  were  none  admitted  that  evening. 

Before  we  had  time  to  greet  him  or  remark  upon  the 
suddenness  of  his  appearance,  he  addressed  us,  speaking 
in  a  singular,  far-off  tone  of  voice,  which  affected  every 
listener  with  an  indescribable  sense  of  awe.  His  words 
were,  as  far  as  I  can  remember,  to  this  effect :  "  My  time 
is  short,  my  power  to  address  you  limited.  My  beloved 
one  is  in  fearful  peril.  Summon  him  not,  nor  inquire 
Ms  fate  for  nine  days.  When  that  time  expires,  I  will 
come  again  and  direct  you  what  to  do.  I  have  fear- 
fully wronged  him,  and  it  is  for  you,  John  Dudley,  to 
help  me  make  reparation.  I  have  tampered  all  too  pre- 
sumptuously with  the  sacred  forces  of  a  human  soul,  and 
ere  I  can  find  peace  or  rest,  I  must  redeem  my  error. 
Aid  me ! "  He  paused,  yet  a  spell  was  on  us  all  so 
strong,  that  not  a  creature  moved  or  a  voice  replied. 

As  for  me,  my  tongue  clove  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth. 
A  nameless  horror  possessed  me,  and  though  I  looked 
fixedly  at  the  speaker,  and  could  trace  distinctly,  even 
in  that  dim  light,  every  line  of  his  pale  and  anxious  face, 
my  eyes  seemed  blighted,  and  I  would  have  given  much 
for  the  power  to  turn  them  away  and  fix  on  them  some 
other  object.  As  he  paused,  he  bent  his  eyes  upon  me, 
and  so  pleading,  wistful,  and  yet  piercing  became  their 
expression,  that  I  felt  as  if  I  could  not  endure  that  glance 
another  moment,  when  lo !  he  slowly  melted  out  before 
us  into  thin  air.  As  he  disappeared,  the  room  shook  vio- 
lently, every  object  rocked  as  in  an  earthquake ;  the  lights 
flamed  up,  then  sank,  and  seemed  on  the  point  of  expir- 
ing; deep  sighs,  and  one  or  two  low  moans  resounded 
through  the  apartment ;  the  air  was  suffocating.  "  Great 
Heaven!  what  is  all  this?"  cried  one  of  the  members. 


254  GHOST  LAND. 

ft  Let  me  be  gone ;  I  cannot  stay  in  this  dreadful  place ! " 
said  another.  In  a  moment  there  was  a  general  move- 
ment towards  the  entrances ;  the  veils  were  thrown  aside, 
and  the  whole  of  the  party  were  hurrying  back  and  forth 
through  the  room  with  restless  and  irrepressible  agita- 
tion. 

"Whilst  I  sat  in  my  place  staring  vacantly  at  the  spot 
from  whence  the  w  atmospheric  spirit "  —  as  we  deemed 
the  apparition  to  have  been — had  disappeared,  one  of  our 
lucides,  in  her  natural  tone,  said  hurriedly,  shaking  me 
by  the  arm  at  the  same  time,  "  Mr.  Dudley,  Mr.  Dudley, 
arouse  yourself !  That  was  no  ?  flying  soul,'  but  Profes- 
sor von  Marx's  spirit.  For  Heaven's  sake,  hasten  to  the 
professor's  lodgings,  though  I  fear  me  it  is  too  late.  He 
is  dead!  I  feel  sure  he  is  dead,  and  the  poor  young 
Chevalier  is  abandoned." 

March  6.  Yes,  Professor  von  Marx  is  dead!  Our 
circle  broke  up  and  dispersed  immediately  after  the 
scene  last  recorded,  and  accompanied  by  our  president, 
the  venerable  Lord  V ,  I  hastened  off  to  the  pro- 
fessor's lodgings,  which  were  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  my  residence;  in  /act,  close  down  by  the  river 
side.  It  occupied  some  time  before  my  servants  could 
be  summoned,  my  carriage  brought  round,  and  Lord 

"V and  myself  set  down  at  the  old  mansion  which 

my  friend  had  selected  as  the  retreat  of  himself  and  his 
adopted  son. 

It  was  near  midnight  then,  when  we  reached  the 
house,  but  we  found  the  domestics  all  up  and  in  the 
utmost  perplexity  and  consternation.  The  professor 
had  desired  to  be  called  at  six  o'clock  that  evening  to 
dress  for  dinner,  but  when  his  valet  reached  him  in  ful- 
filment of  his  orders,  he  found  him  cold  and  rigid,  as  if 
he  had  been  dead  some  hours.  Medical  aid  had  been 


GHOST  LAND.  255 

. 

summoned  in  vain.  The  proprietor  of  the  house  had 
despatched  messengers  to  me,  but  as  I  had  been  dining 
out,  and  was  subsequently  engaged  at  our  lodge,  I  could 
not  be  found,  and  there  was  no  means  of  apprising  me 
of  the  fact  save  through  the  extraordinary  apparition 
which  we  had  so  recently  witnessed.  "  Apoplexy," 
"heart  disease,"  etc.  etc.,  these  were  the  medical  ver- 
dicts on  a  case  which  none  could  understand  and  no 
science  account  for. 

March  10.  My  position  is  becoming  most  embar- 
rassing. The  people  with  whom  Professor  von  Marx 
lodged,  inform  me  the  poor  young  Chevalier  arrived 
the  night  after  his  father  died,  and  passed  up  the  stairs 
without  speaking  a  word  to  any  one.  How  long  he  re- 
mained they  cannot  tell,  but  in  the  morning  they  found 
he  had  left  the  house  and  gone  no  one  knows  whither. 
It  is  a  mystery  to  us  all  to  discover  how  he  heard  of  his 
friend's  decease.  I  had  despatched  special  messengers 
to  him  with  the  sad  tidings,  but  they  could  not  have 
reached  him  before  the  very  night  when  he  appeared 
in  London.  Taking  into  account  all  the  mysteries  by 
which  we  are  surrounded,  I  don't  feel  at  all  sure  that 
the  individual  seen  was  really  the  Chevalier  in  person. 
How  do  we  know  but  what  it  might  have  been  only  his 
"atmospheric  spirit,"  or  what  the  Germans  call  the 
Doppel  Ganger  f 

For  my  part  I  am  so  bewildered  with  the  attempt  to 
find  my  way  amidst  these  dark  and  occult  paths,  that 
I  become  lost,  and  uncertain  how  far  we  are  justified  in 
lifting  the  awful  veil  which  divides  the  realms  of  spirit 
and  matter.  Half  my  time  I  know  not  by  what  or  whom 
I  am  surrounded,  or  how  to  discriminate  between  the 
real  and  the  phantom  people  that  flash  before  my  eyes. 

Remembering  the  mysterious   charge   we  have  re- 


256  GHOST  LAND. 

ceived,  I  dare  not  seek  for  this  poor  young  man 
before  the  prescribed  nine  days  elapse,  and  yet  I  am 
filled  with  the  deepest  anxiety  on  his  account,  and  long 
to  tender  him  the  consolations  of  friendship  and  sympa- 
thy. More  difficulties  yet  beset  me.  Professor  von 
Marx  has  left  his  entire  property  to  his  adopted  son,  and 
named  me  as  his  guardian  and  trustee.  His  will  is  clear 
and  lucid,  and  was  evidently  made  for  the  hour,  suiting 
so  well  the  present  crisis  that  it  would  seem  as  if  he  had 
foreseen  and  provided  for  the  very  moment  of  his  decease. 
March  11.  ~No  tidings  yet  of  the  Chevalier,  and  the 
singular  emphasis  with  which  the  apparition  demanded 
a  nine  days'  suspension  of  all  inquiry,  paralyzes  any 
attempt  on  my  part  to  discover  what  has  become  of 
him,  yet  my  business  advisers  urge  me  to  seek  out  the 
young  heir  without  loss  of  time,  and  my  best  friends 
begin  to  wonder  why  I  take  no  steps  in  this  direction. 
Urgent  advice  and  suggestions  to  "act  promptly"  pour 
in  upon  me  from  all  quarters,  and  even  my  servants  are 
regarding  me  with  furtive  and  suspicious  glances.  I 
suppose  every  one  will  soon  begin  to  set  me  down  as 
crazy,  —  an  opinion  that  I  shall  not,  I  fear,  be  very  unde- 
serving of,  unless  something  occurs  to  relieve  my  mind 
from  the  terrible  anxiety  that  now  possesses  it.  The 
hardest  task  I  have  yet  had  to  encounter  is  to  resist 
the  pleadings  of  my  dear  wife  and  children,  who  con- 
stantly urge  me  to  institute  inquiries  for  the  missing 
heir,  whom,  they  persist  in  believing,  has  been  "  made 
away  with,"  through  the  same  magical  arts  that  have 
(as  they  allege)  destroyed  the  unfortunate  professor. 
It  would  be  in  vain  for  me  to  attempt  combating  such 
an  opinion,  absurd  as  it  appears ;  equally  impossible  for 
me  to  explain  why  I  am  determined  to  commence  no 
search  until  after  the  nine  days  have  expired. 


GHOST  LAND.  257 

We  have  called  two  special  meetings  of  the  Orphic 
Circle,  but  alas!  the  visions  seem  to  be  closed.  Our 
somnambules  are  themselves  so  much  disturbed  and 
their  minds  so  agitated  by  the  prevailing  excitement, 
that  they  are  unable  to  come  into  those  conditions  of 
passivity  necessary  to  procure  reliable  visions.  They 
all  seem  to  concur  in  the  opinion,  however,  that  the 
Chevalier  is  still  living,  and  destined,  as  they  predict,  to 
grow  out  of  his  present  semi-earthly  condition  and 
attain  to  a  high  and  noble  manhood. 

March  15.  This  night  completes  the  prescribed  sea- 
son of  inactivity,  and  at  10  p.  M.  the  Orphic  Circle  will 
meet  to  advise  with,  whatever  powers  may  be  pleased 
to  attend  us,  upon  the  necessary  steps  to  be  taken  for 
the  discovery  of  our  unfortunate  young  friend.  Amidst 
all  manner  of  annoyances,  estranged  looks,  covert  re- 
proaches, and  open  rebukes,  I  have  faithfully  adhered 
to  the  commands  of  the  mysterious  phantom  and  ab- 
stained from  all  attempts  to  discover  the  Chevalier's 
retreat.  I  only  know  that  he  left  his  country  retirement 
and  appeared  at  his  former  residence  in  London.  At 
neither  place  have  any  tidings  been  heard  of  him  since ; 
and  his  unaccountable  absence  from  the  funeral  of  his 
adopted  father,  which  we  delayed  until  yesterday,  leaves 
us  no  longer  a  shadow  of  hope  that  he  will  voluntarily 
appear  amongst  us. 

To-night,  the  ninth  since  the  apparition  of  Professor 
von  Marx  at  our  circle,  must  decide  how  far  we  can 
look  for  help  from  the  invisible  world;  if  that  fails  us, 
to-morrow's  dawn  will  see  me  surrounded  with  every 
instrumentality  that  human  effort  can  afford,  to  make 
our  search  successful. 

Many  days  have  elapsed  since  I  made  my  last  entry, 
but  the  events  that  have  crowded  so  thickly  upon  me 

17 


258  GHOST  LAND. 

have  prevented  my  fulfilment  of  that  which  has  now 
become  to  me  a  solemn,  life  duty,  namely,  to  record  as 
plainly  and  truthfully  as  language  can  set  forth  the 
facts  of  spiritual  intervention  in  human  affairs,  and  to 
draw  the  mysterious  and  awful  veil  which  has  hitherto 
shrouded  those  realms  of  power  and  influence,  from 
which  the  invisible  springs  of  human  action  mainly 
proceed. 

On  the  night  of  March  15  our  session  commenced  at 
9  P.  M.,  and  our  lodge  was  opened  with  the  usual  for- 
malities. Our  four  neophytes  wrere  stationed  by  the 
altars,  each  with  the  mirror  and  crystal  appropriate  to 
the  time.  The  four  lamps  which  sufficed  to  dispel  the 
darkness  of  the  lodge  were  lighted,  the  braziers  duly 
served,  and  the  fumigations  carefully  attended  to.  After 
the  opening  hymns  had  been  sung  and  the  invocations 
commenced,  the  lamps  began  to  flicker  with  the  usual 
unsteady  motion  which  indicates  responses  from  the 
spirits  summoned,  and  in  a  short  time  they  went  out 
one  after  another,  leaving  the  room  only  faintly  illumi- 
nated by  the  colored  fires  from  the  braziers. 

Around  the  central  altar  we  now  perceived  that  the 
crystals  were  beginning  to  be  covered  by  bright  corrus- 
cations  of  sparkling  light.  With  sensations  of  un- 
wonted awe  and  breathless  interest,  we  noticed  also, 
that  small  tongues  of  flame  and  globes  of  pale  light 
loomed  through  the  darkness  at  different  parts  of  the 
hall,  sailing  around,  and  gradually  disappearing  near  the 
altar.  At  length  we  observed  that  the  whole  apartment 
was  becoming  lighter  and  lighter. 

From  whatever  source  the  illumination  proceeded,  it 
completely  overpowered  the  light  of  the  braziers,  until 
it  gradually  filled  the  whole  place  with  a  soft,  hazy  twi- 
light. Then  it  was  that  we  discovered  around  the  cen- 


GHOST  LAND.  259 

tral  altar,  a  circle  of  crouching,  dark  forms,  who,  with 
veiled  heads  and  misty  robes,  seemed  to  be  supported 
on  seats  faintly  outlined,  and  stretching  away,  row  after 
row  and  circle  after  circle,  until  they  reached  from  the 
first  or  inner  circle,  up  to  the  remotest  portion  of  the 
roof,  completely  filling  our  vast  lodge-room  and  ascend- 
ing as  it  seemed  even  beyond  the  roof,  in  the  form  of 
an  ancient  Roman  amphitheatre.  This  spectral  com- 
pany, although  clearly  outlined  in  the  mysterious  twi- 
light of  the  room,  obscured  but  did  not  conceal  the 
other  persons  or  material  objects  present,  which  shone 
through  them  as  if  they  had  been  merely  shadows. 

I  find  on  comparing  notes  with  the  other  members  of 
the  circle,  the  appearances  I  have  thus  briefly  described 
were  realized  by  all  pretty  much  alike.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered, however,  that  what  I  have  attempted  to  depict  in 
cold,  matter-of-fact  language,  can  never  be  thoroughly 
realized  except  by  the  awe-struck  witnesses,  nor  could 
any  word-painting,  however  vivid,  do  justice  to  the 
tremendous  and  harrowing  impressions  produced  on 
every  mind  by  the  presence  of  this  immense  company 
of  formless,  nameless  shadows.  I  might  live  for  cen- 
turies ere  the  memory  of  that  solemn  and  terrific  scene 
could  be  obliterated;  I  might  behold  death  and  car- 
nage, the  red  battle-field,  or  mortal  catastrophe  in  its 
direst  form,  yet  nothing  could  ever  equal  the  insupport- 
able horror  of  that  phantom  gathering.  I  recall  it  now, 
with  sentiments  of  dismay  which  no  time  has  served  to 
diminish.  Presently,  in  the  midst  of  the  awful  stillness, 
there  came  a  sudden  movement  amongst  the  spectral 
forms ;  with  one  accord  they  all  rose  to  their  feet,  and 
as  they  did  so,  a  soughing,  sighing  sound  filled  the  apart- 
ment, like  the  uprising  of  a  vast  multitude,  accompa- 
nied by  the  rushing  of  a  mighty  wind.  It  was  evident 


260  GHOST  LAND. 

that  something  or  somebody  had  come  into  their  midst, 
whom  these  shrouded  phantoms  rose  to  receive.  Dur- 
ing what  ensued,  they  all  remained  erect  and  motionless, 
yet  still  dimly  visible  in  the  peculiar  and  unearthly  glare 
that  illumined  the  lodge.  Then,  without  perceiving  any 
other  form  or  realizing  who  spoke,  except  from  the  tone 
and  substance  of  what  follows,  a  voice,  which  all  present 
recognized  as  that  of  Felix  von  Marx,  speaking  from  the 
circle  of  braziers  which  surrounded  the  central  altar, 
addressed  us  thus : — 

"My  Louis  is  dead;  he  lies  in  the  wood  by  the  side 
of  the  river  on  the  road  to  which  I  will  direct  you 
through  Estelle,  and  from  whence  you,  John  Dudley, 
must  bring  him  to  your  home.  Take  him  to  your  heart, 
and  do  your  duty  by  him  as  a  man,  a  friend,  a  father. 
Your  course  towards  him  will  be  inspired,  and  all  ypur 
actions  guided  by  those  who  have  his  soul  in  charge. 
They  will  give  you  the  daily  bread  of  wisdom  so  long 
as  he  tarries  with  you.  In  the  life  that  has  passed  for 
him,  for  me,  I  have  greatly  wronged  him,  —  filled  his 
soul  with  mine,  clothed  his  spirit  in  my  own,  consumed, 
absorbed,  and  killed  him.  His  spirit  has  fled  in  yearn- 
ing after  mine,  but  during  the  dread  hour  of  mortal 
death,  the  Father  of  spirits  has  permitted  his  angels  to 
repair  the  mighty  wrong,  allowed  his  soul  to  gain 
another  birth,  struggle  into  a  new  life,  attain  another 
being;  moulded  anew  by  pain  and  anguish,  the  crushed 
germ  of  his  new-born  soul  has  been  revived  by  pitying 
angels.  The  body  sleeps  now,  but  the  spirit  hovers 
near,  upborne  in  the  hands  of  ministering  spirits,  who 
weave  afresh  the  vital  cord  that  binds  him  to  mortal 
life,  and  when  you  have  rescued  the  suffering  frame 
from  its  grassy  death-bed,  the  reunion  of  the  new-born 
soul  with  its  earthly  tenement  will  be  effected.  Rescued 


GHOST  LAND.  261 

to  be  a  revelator  in  the  new  dispensation,  spared  to  take 
his  place  as  a  builder  in  the  temple  of  the  new  religion, 
his  real  life-work  must  begin  under  your  fatherhood, 
John  Dudley;  and  the  Lord  and  Master  of  life,  the 
Father  of  all,  do  so  to  you,  and  more  also,  as  you  do  to 
him,  my  victim  and  my  child.  Now  speed  away,  and 
hasten!  hasten!" 

The  voice  ceased,  or  rather  the  last  accents  seemed 
to  die  off  in  a  prolonged  and  singular  wail,  hushed  by 
the  soughing  sound  before  described,  as  if  the  vast  con- 
course of  moving  phantoms  were  about  to  resume  their 
crouching  attitudes,  but  no,  they  sank  down,  down, 
with  a  long,  subsiding  sigh,  until  they  melted  into  the 
ground  beneath  our  feet.  The  lights  streamed  up  from 
the  braziers;  the  veils  of  separation  and  banners  that 
floated  from  the  walls  stirred  and  waved  as  if  moved 
by  a  strong  wind;  sweet  odors  streamed  for  a  moment 
through  the  room;  a  few  distant  chords  of  music  rang 
through  the  air,  then  all  was  still,  and  everything  re- 
sumed its  place  and  aspect,  as  if  the  whole  past  scene 
had  been  nothing  but  an  unquiet  dream. 

By  the  time  the  hour  of  midnight  had  sounded 
from  the  city  clocks,  Estelle,  our  best  clairvoyant, 

Lord  Y ,  and  myself  were  seated  in  my  barouche, 

with  four  of  my  best  horses  in  harness.  The  night  was 
wild  and  threatening.  Heavy  banks  of  clouds  from 
time  to  time  obscured  the  moon  and  cast  their  murky 
shadows  across  the  path  which  our  flying  horses  trav- 
ersed. Our  clairvoyant,  in  a  deep  magnetic  trance, 
directed  our  path  at  every  turn  in  the,  road.  I  myself 
sat  on  the  box  and  drove,  Estelle  being  placed  by  my 
side,  two  outriders  following,  to  render  such  service  as 
we  might  require.  We  traversed  Hampstead  Heath, 
and  guided  ever  by  our  admirable  somnambulist,  we 


262  GHOST  LAND. 

struck  off  several  times  from  the  direct  road,  until 
towards  morning,  after  five  hours'  ride,  pursued  with- 
out pause  or  interruption,  we  reached  the  banks  of  a 
deep  and  sullen  river,  and  began  to  near  the  outskirts 
of  an  extensive  wood. 

So  frequent  had  been  the  divergencies  we  made  under 
our  somnambulist's  direction,  that  I  had  lost  all  track  of 
the  road  we  pursued,  and  the  spot  we  had  now  reached 
was  entirely  strange  to  me.  On  gaining  the  point  in 
question,  Estelle  gave  me  a  peremptory  sign  to  stop, 
and  for  a  few  moments  her  attitude  of  breathless  silence 
induced  me  to  fear  she  was  losing  the  mysterious  thread 
of  influence  that  had  guided  us  thus  far.  My  doubts 
were  soon  dispelled  however,  and  a  new-born  hope  set 
my  heart  wildly  throbbing,  as  the  young  girl  hurriedly 
bade  us  alight  and  give  our  carriage  and  horses  in  charge 
of  the  grooms,who  were  to  wait  for  further  orders.  Then 
crying,  "  Follow  me ! "  she  sprang  forward  into  the  wood, 
moving  with  a  pace  so  swift  and  a  step  so  light,  that 

it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  Lord  V and  myself 

could  track  her  through  the  darkness  by  her  white  gar- 
ments. As  we  advanced,  struggling  painfully  forward 
amidst  the  tangled  underbrush  and  overhanging  boughs 
of  half-fallen  trees,  we  saw  a  distant  light  sailing 
through  the  air  and  descending  towards  the  ground, 
where  it  seemed  to  hover  for  a  few  seconds,  then  sunk 
rapidly  and  became  extinguished.  At  the  same  moment 
a  cry  from  Estelle  warned  us  to  quicken  our  pace,  and 
obeying  the  impatient  waving  of  her  white  handkerchief, 
we  stumbled  and  groped  our  way  on  until  we  reached 
the  edge  of  a  ravine,  at  the  side  of  which,  a  few  steps 
below  the  path,  we  found  Estelle,  awake,  in  her  normal 
state,  and  with  tears  streaming  down  her  cheeks,  kneel- 
ing on  the  ground  beside  the  cold  and  lifeless  form  of 


oi 


GHOST  LAND.  263 

him  we  came  to  seek.  His  garments  drenched  with  rain, 
whiter  than  snow,  with  staring,  open  eyes  fixed  in  the 
awful  glare  of  death  on  the  silent  stars,  with  stiff,  thin 
hands  clutching  as  if  in  agony,  masses  of  earth  and 
up-torn  grass, —  there  lay  the  piteous  form  of  the  once 
beautiful  and  highly-gifted  heir  of  the  great  Professor 
von  Marx. 

Speculation  was  idle ;  pity  gave  place  to  rapid  action, 
sympathy  and  grief  to  quick  resolve.  Raising  the  dead 
form,  for  such  it  appeared  to  be,  in  my  arms,  with  Lord 

V 's  help  I  carried  him  from  the  dreary  wood  to  the 

carriage,  and  ere  noon  of  the  day  which  was  just  then 
dawning,  I  placed  him  beneath  the  shelter  of  my  own 
roof.  I  brought  back  to  my  anxious  wife  and  children 
a  sad  and  piteous  spectacle  't  is  true,  a  mere  skeleton, 
with  scarcely  a  shadow  of  the  brilliant  grace  and  beauty 
that  had  once  distinguished  him ;  but  I  knew  the  invis- 
ible powers  that  had  rescued  him  could  restore  the  life 
they  had  so  miraculously  saved.  I  knew  that  the  future 
called  him,  and  the  hand  of  waiting  destiny  could 
raise  him  from  the  very  bier.  I  was  neither  surprised 
nor  excited,  therefore,  when  the  physicians  I  had  sum- 
moned, reported  that  the  faint  fluttering  of  the  still 
throbbing  heart,  gave  promise  that  my  cares  and  anxie- 
ties would  yet  be  rewarded,  and  Professor  von  Marx's 
solemn  trust  of  fatherhood  had  not  been  bequeathed  to 
me  in  vain. 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

DIARY  OF  JOHN  CAVENDISH  DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  CONTINUED. 

May  IS,  18  .  Many  weeks  elapsed  before  I  had 
an  opportunity  of  making  another  entry  in  my  diary. 
Meantime  spring  had  almost  ripened  into  summer,  and 
the  ward  in  whom  I  had  become  so  strangely  and  in- 
voluntarily interested,  was  restored  to  life  and  partial 
strength,  and  at  the  request  of  my  pitying  wife  and 
daughters,  became  established  as  an  inmate  of  my  own 
home.  These  dear  members  of  my  family,  although  un- 
yielding in  their  prejudices  against  my  "  magical  prac- 
tices," had  always  manifested  a  deep  interest  in  the 

young  Chevalier  de  B ;  in  fact,  they  had  so  won 

upon  his  reticent  nature  by  their  kind  and  womanly  at- 
tentions, that  he  was  completely  familiarized  amongst 
them,  and  proved  an  ever-welcome  visitor  in  my  wife's 
salon.  His  high  intellectual  culture,  passionate  love  of 
music,  exquisite  voice,  and  skilful  performance  on  sev- 
eral instruments  of  music,  completed  the  charm  with 
which  nature  had  endowed  him,  and  few  persons  could 
have  supposed  that  there  was  any  subject  of  divided 
opinion  between  the  ladies  of  my  household  and  their 
fascinating  visitor. 

On  the  sad  day  when  I  brought  the  wasted  form  of 
their  favorite  to  rest  for  a  while  beneath  my  roof,  my 
wife  insisted  upon  his  being  given  up  to  her  tender  care. 
The  time  came  at  last,  however,  when  this  gentle  nurse, 


GHOST  LAND.  265 

no  less  than  all  his  other  attendants,  myself  included, 
began  to  regard  his  convalescence  with  a  mixture  of 
equal  astonishment  and  perplexity. 

We  could  not  disguise  from  ourselves  the  startling 
fact,  that  the  unfortunate  Chevalier,  whilst  regaining  his 
usual  composure  and  lucidity  of  manner,  had  obviously 
lost  sight  of  his  own  identity.  That  his  external  ap- 
pearance should  long  retain  traces  of  the  terrible  suffer- 
ings he  had  undergone  was  naturally  to  be  expected; 
but  the  look  of  mature  age  which  overspread  his  hag- 
gard face  and  worn  form,  did  not  pass  away  with 
returning  strength. 

Although  little  more  than  twenty  years  of  age,  he  might 
have  been  taken  for  a  man  of  forty.  His  voice,  naturally 
sweet  and  melodious,  assumed  a  deeper  tone,  and  his 
accent,  strongly  marked  by  his  mother's  native  Italian, 
now  betrayed  the  same  German  intonation  peculiar  to 
his  adopted  father's.  Day  by  day  some  fresh  token  of 
a  wandering  mind,  fixing  itself  into  the  very  self-same 
grooves  of  identity  that  had  distinguished  Professor 
von  Marx,  became  more  and  more  strikingly  apparent. 
He  would  frequently  perplex  his  kind  nurses  by  entreat- 
ing them  to  tell  him  where  Louis  was,  and  wliy  lie  had 
deserted  his  unfortunate  father  now  that  he  was  so  weak 
and  helpless.  At  times  he  would  startle  me  with  the 
same  supplication,  always  addressing  me  as  his  w  dear 
old  friend  John,"  and  speaking  of  himself  as  if  he  had 
been  the  real  Felix  von  Marx.  Sometimes  he  would  ask 
whether  there  was  no  letter  yet  from  Louis,  and  specu- 
late, with  an  anxiety  distressing  to  witness,  on  the  causes 
which  prevented  his  hearing  from  him. 

I  was  greatly  embarrassed  how  to  answer  him,  but  he 
would  generally  save  me  the  trouble  by  running  off  from 
the  subject  in  his  wandering  way,  saying,  "I  know  I 


266  GHOST  LAND. 

have  been  very  ill,  distraught  I  believe  in  my  mind, 
but  I  am  nearly  well  now  and  able  to  understand  all  you 
may  have  to  say  to  me.  Tell  me  then,  about  my  darling. 

You  know  I  left  him  at  R ,  and  thought  to  have 

joined  him  just  as  I  was  taken  ill.  How  long  is  it  since 
then?  Tell  me,  John !"  I  would  commonly  answer  him 
in  the  same  strain,  saying,  Louis  had  gone  on  a  visit 

to  our  mutual  friend  Lord  V ,  and  that  he  had  only 

been  ill  a  week  or  two.  Louis  would  soon  return,  etc. 
etc.  Sometimes  these  stereotyped  replies  would  quite 
satisfy  him,  though  repeated  many  times  a  week;  at 
others  he  would  try  to  think,  and  murmur  dreamily, 
frl  thought  it  was  a  very  long  time  ago  and  that  I  had 
been  travelling  through  many  strange  countries,  of 
which  I  have  no  distinct  recollection."  As  time  wore  on, 
the  impres&ion  that  he  was  Felix  von  Marx  deepened 
upon  him,  but  the  strangest  part  of  all  was,  not  alone 
his  perfect  assumption  of  all  the  professor's  peculiar 
traits  of  character,  but  his  entire  renunciation  of  all 
ideas  and  habits  which  had  formerly  distinguished  him- 
self. The  Chevalier's  accomplishment  in  and  love  of 
music  gave  place  to  the  professor's  indifference,  amount- 
ing to  dislike  of  the  art.  Even  the  sweet  voices  of  my 
daughters,  which  the  young  man  had  been  accustomed 
to  join,  and  listen  to  with  rapt  delight^  now  displeased 
him,  and  he  would  hastily  quit  the  room  when  they  began 
to  sing.  He  would  accompany  us  in  riding  or  driving 
as  far  as  his  feeble  strength  permitted,  but  he  shrank 
away  with  dislike,  almost  fear,  from  the  presence  of 
strangers  or  visitors,  and  desired  only  to  spend  his  time 
in  solitude  and  deep  abstraction.  He  frequently  spoke 
of  his  intention  to  go  and  seek  Louis,  but  he  seemed 
unable  to  fix  his  mind  upon  a  permanent  idea,  and 
was  easily  persuaded  that  the  same  week  or  two  since 


GHOST  LAND.  267 

he  had  been  taken  ill,  was  all  that  had  elapsed,  and  that 
Louis  was  coming  home  to-morrow  or  next  day.  As  if 
to  compensate  me  for  the  deep  anxiety  I  suffered  on  my 
poor  ward's  account,  a  change  arose  in  the  feelings  of 
my  family  which  brought  me  unmitigated  satisfaction. 

The  strange  tidings  from  America  about  the  marvels 
of  spirit  communion,  came  faster  and  thicker,  and  won- 
derful narratives  were  in  circulation,  concerning  the 
system  of  telegraphy  by  which  the  world  of  spirits 
was  bringing  assurance  of  their  continued  existence 
to  the  minds  of  their  earthly  friends.  Although  the 
report  of  these  marvels  formed  a  prominent  theme  of 
discussion  at  many  a  fashionable  assemblage  and 
amongst  our  numerous  visitors,  I  never  promoted  or 
made  the  slightest  allusion  to  them  in  my  own  family; 
perhaps  I  never  should  have  done  so,  had  I  Jiot  one  day 
been  timidly  sounded  by  my  youngest  darling,  Blanche, 
who  after  beating  about  the  bush  for  a  considerable 
time  in  her  own  pretty,  insinuating  way,  proceeded  to 
pour  out  a  remarkable  narrative,  the  sum  of  which  was 
as  follows: — 

It  seemed  that  my  daughter's  German  maid  had 
lately  been  much  disturbed  by  unaccountable  noises, 
which  kept  her  awake  of  a  night,  and  finally  induced 
her  to  ask  the  housekeeper  to  change  her  sleeping 
apartment.  On  mentioning  the  cause  of  her  request, 
the  housekeeper  gravely  informed  her  she  would  obtain 
no  relief  from  a  change  of  rooms,  as  she  herself  as  well 
as  several  of  the  other  domestics  had  experienced  the 
same  strange  annoyances;  that  the  sounds  in  question 
were  to  be  heard  all  over  the  house,  in  a  word,  accord- 
ing to  the  gouvernante's  theory,  the  strange  sounds 
were  the  new  thing  that  had  come  across  the  ocean 
from  America,  and  no  one  could  prevent  or  hinder  them. 


268  GHOST  LAND. 

When  this  piece  of  philosophy  began  to  be  discussed 
in  the  servants'  hall,  it  turned  out,  as  the  housekeeper 
had  said,  that  strange  knockings  and  odd  motions  of 
furniture,  had  been  noticed  all  over  the  house.  Some 
of  the  servants  attributed  the  trouble  to  the  goblins 
that  their  master  and  Professor  von  Marx  had  been  so 
busy  in  raising;  others,  to  the  work  of  the  late  pro- 
fessor's ghost;  but  all  agreed  that  they  had  something 
to  do  with  the  poor  young  Chevalier,  as  they  were  most 
frequently  heard  around  the  apartments  occupied  by 
him  and  his  Arab  servant,  and  they  finally  agreed  to 

refer  the  whole  matter  to  Lady  Emily  L ,  my  wife's 

sister,  a  staid  widow  lady  now  on  a  visit  amongst  us, 
and  one  whose  strong  sense  constituted  her  a  high 
authority  in  such  occult  difficulties.  When  Lady  Emily 
heard  the  various  statements  concerning  the  disturb- 
ances now  prevalent,  she  did  not,  as  had  been  expected, 
deny  their  credibility  or  rebuke  the  narrators  for  their 
superstitious  opinions,  but  she  quietly  informed  the 
housekeeper  and  German  maid,  that  her  nieces  as 
well  as  herself  had  experienced  the  same  disturbances ; 
that  she  had  lately  been  much  occupied  in  reading 
accounts  from  America  on  similar  phenomena,  and  cer- 
tain tracts  on  the  subject  had  explained  the  method  by 
which  mortals  could  put  themselves  in  safe  and  direct 
communication  with  these  haunting  spirits;  she  ended 
by  advising  that  her  nieces  and  herself,  assisted  by  the 
worthy  housekeeper  and  two  of  the  most  intelligent  of 
the  ladies'  maids,  should  form  a  circle  on  the  approved 
American  fashion  and  see  what  would  come  of  it. 

At  first  the  bold  investigators  nearly  scared  them- 
selves into  fits  by  their  rash  experiment,  for  no  sooner 
had  they  seated  themselves  on  the  prescribed  plan 
around  their  circle-table,  than  that  hitherto  well-bred 


GHOST  LAND.  269 

and  inanimate  article  of  furniture,  began  to  leap,  dance, 
slide,  kick,  and  behave  in  such  a  generally  frantic  man- 
ner, that  the  astounded  sitters  retreated  from  it  in  horror, 
and  ended  by  summoning  a  footman  to  carry  the  demo- 
niac piece  of  furniture  away  into  parts  unknown. 

After  recovering  from  the  first  shock  of  this  astound- 
ing exhibition,  the  pioneers  returned  to  the  charge  with 
another  table,  and  then  another  and  another.  At  last, 
finding  that  as  soon  as  they  put  themselves  in  position, 
every  article  they  laid  hands  on  behaved  in  the  same 
unruly  manner,  they  concluded  to  consult  some  of  their 
acquaintances  who,  as  report  alleged,  had  already  taken 
their  first  degrees  in  the  mystery  of  spirit  rappings  and 
were  known  to  be  holding  nightly  circles  with  immense 
success. 

From  this  point  it  is  unnecessary  to  trace  the  un- 
foldments  of  the  great  secret  with  which  my  Blanche 
had  come  charged.  Her  gentle  mother — at  first  strenu- 
ously opposed  to  such  terrible  doings — had  finally  been 
initiated  as  one  of  the  sisters,  and  become  classified 
as  an  excellent  impressional  and  seeing  medium.  My 
eldest  daughter  Sophie,  was  the  writing  and  drawing 
medium  of  the  band,  and  had  already  filled  up  sev- 
eral quires  of  foolscap  with  "  communications  from  the 
seventh  sphere."  Blanche  was  a  tipping,  rapping,  per- 
sonating, singing,  playing,  and  every  other  sort  of 
a  medium.  Lady  Emily  and  the  housekeeper  were 
w  developing  mediums,"  and  two  German,  one  Spanish, 
and  one  French  lady's  maid,  were  rapping  and  seeing 
mediums.  In  short,  I  was  informed  that  my  entire 
household  had  become  hand-and-glove  with  the  spirit 
world;  that  circles  in  our  own  family,  as  well  as  in  those 
of  several  of  our  acquaintances,  were  in  full  headway, 
and  that  they  had  at  length  thought  it  fit  and  proper 


270  GHOST  LAND. 

that  they  should  ask  my  permission  to  carry  on  their 
investigations,  as  well  as  my  advice  as  to  their  best 
modes  of  procedure. 

"Without  even  hinting  to  my  fair  informant  that  I 
deemed  her  application  came  a  little  late  in  the  day, 
much  less  apprising  her  that  a  certain  cousin  Harry, 
an  Oxford  B.  A.,  had  kept  me  fully  informed  of  the 
whole  matter  from  first  to  last,  I  assumed  a  grave  air, 
declared  the  thing  had  become  serious  and  must  be  im- 
mediately looked  into ;  that  it  was  my  duty  as  a  county 
magistrate  and  the  father  of  a  family  to  take  the  whole 
thing  into  custody  and  join  the  next  seance  they  were 
to  hold,  which  turned  out  to  be  that  very  night.  It 
would  be  unnecessary  to  pursue  this  subject  further  at 
the  present  time,  save  to  state,  that  I  found  several  good 
test  mediums  in  my  family,  as  my  dear  little  Blanche  had 
stated;  that  then  and  for  some  two  or  three  years  subse- 
quently, my  dear  ones  enjoyed  a  heaven  upon  earth  in 
the  bright  and  consoling  communion  of  loved  ones  gone 
before,  and  that  it  colored  their  whole  lives  and  tinctured 
their  opinions  with  a  liberal  element,  which  has  happily 
never  failed  to  exert  its  elevating  influence  over  them. 

One  day,  when  I  was  more  than  ordinarily  concerned 
at  the  increasing  hallucination  of  the  Chevalier,  I  deter- 
mined to  ask  our  spirit  friends  what  course  they  would 
recommend  me  to  pursue  with  him.  It  seemed  to  us 
all,  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  amongst  the  number 
and  variety  of  spirits  that  had  identified  themselves 
through  our  mediums,  Felix  von  Marx  had  never  mani- 
fested. I  had  often  asked  for  him,  but  without  success, 
and  what  was  still  stranger,  none  of  our  spirit  friends 
seemed  able  to  give  any  account  of  him.  They  all  con- 
curred in  stating  that  they  believed  he  was  "  still  in  the 
earth  sphere."  Pesenting  my  special  request  for  advice 


GHOST  LAND,  271 

to  one  of  our  trusted  spirit  guides,  we  received  the  fol- 
lowing message:  "Bring  the  Chevalier  here."  I  was 
doubtful  whether  he  would  come ;  the  spirits  were  sure 
of  his  compliance.  The  matter  was  soon  decided,  for  I 
tendered  my  invitation  to  the  Chevalier,  who  at  once, 
and  with  something  of  his  old  yielding  manner,  rose 
and  followed  me  without  a  word.  No  sooner  had  he 
taken  the  place  assigned  him  at  the  circle,  than  a  letter 
came  fluttering  through  the  air,  passing  his  face  and 
falling  on  his  hand.  On  opening  the  sheet  we  found 
written  in  ink  not  yet  dry,  the  words,  "  Send  for  Ernes- 
tine —  you  know  who,  for  you  have  been  writing  to  her 
this  morning."  The  letter  was  unsigned,  but  addressed 

to  "John  C.  Dudley,  Esq., Square,  London."     Now, 

although  I  had  long  since  given  up  being  astonished  at 
anything,  I  was  considerably  startled  now :  first,  at  the 
only  direct  writing  I  had  ever  received  from  a  spiritual 
source ; ,  next,  at  the  intelligence  conveyed.  The  truth 
is,  in  a  recent  conversation  with  my  ward,  he,  under  the 
fixed  impression  that  he  was  Felix  von  Marx,  stated 
that  in  the  early  days  of  his  married  life  he  had  pur- 
chased and  presented  to  his  wife  a  piece  of  valuable 
land,  the  lease  of  which  would  run  out  just  about  this 
time,  and  as  she  would  be  liable  to  lose  her  interest  in 
it  unless  she  took  certain  legal  steps  which  he  referred 
to,  so  he  wished  I  would  do  him  the  favor  to  write  and 
advise  her  of  what  was  requisite  to  be  done.  Never 
was  I  more  completely  astounded  than  by  .this  address. 
I  knew,  if  I  knew  anything,  that  the  Chevalier  was 
entirely  ignorant  that  his  father  had  ever  been  married, 
whilst  the  information  he  gave  about  the  property  was 
equally  unknown  to  me.  Directly  after  Professor  Marx's 
decease  I  had  inquired  for  the  address  of  his  widow  the 
Princess  Ernestine,  and  informed  her  of  her  loss,  at  the 


272  GHOST  LAND. 

same  time  mentioning  the  disposition  her  late  husband 
had  made  of  his  property.  The  princess  by  letter, 
expressed  her  entire  approval  of  the  professor's  will, 
and  when  I  again  wrote  to  her  to  inquire  whether  any 
such  business  transaction  as  that  the  Chevalier  had 
described,  really  took  place,  she  entered  into  a  full 
account  of  the  matter,  described  it  in  the  same  terms  as 
those  employed  by  the  Chevalier,  and  announced  her 
intention  of  seeing  me  when  she  came  to  London,  which, 
she  added,  she  expected  to  do  in  a  few  days  on  special 
business.  She  gave  as  her  town  address  a  certain  hotel 
in  Bond  St.,  and  it  was  a  note  addressed  to  her  High- 
ness at  that  hotel  that  I  had  actually  been  engaged  in 
writing  in  the  morning.  I  had  been  interrupted  before 
I  could  finish  my  letter,  and  having  put  it  in  my  desk 
under  lock  and  key,  I  had  the  best  reason  to  believe  no 
human  being  was  cognizant  of  its  existence,  although, 
as  I  now  found  to  my  astonishment,  there  were  other 
eyes  than  those  of  humanity  on  our  most  secret  actions. 

Our  seance  soon  closed,  and  this  was  the  first  and 
last  time  the  Chevalier  ever  joined  us;  in  fact,  after  he 
had  taken  his  place  amongst  us,  his  entire  absence  of 
mind  rendered  all  that  passed  a  complete  blank  to  him. 

The  next  day  I  drove  to  the  hotel  to  which  the  Princess 
von  Marx's  letters  were  to  be  directed,  and  on  reaching 
it,  learned  to  my  great  surprise  and  gratification,  that 
she  had  already  arrived,  although  she  was  not  prepared 
to  receive  visitors.  Sending  up  my  card,  with  the 
pressing  request  that  she  would  favor  me  with  an  inter- 
view, I  found  myself  admitted  to  the  illustrious  lady's 
presence  before  I  had  well  made  up  my  mind  how  to 
prefer  the  strange  request  I  had  to  make  to  her.  I 
found  her  Highness  composed  enough  to  compensate 
for  my  blundering  ways,  so  I  let  her  rattle  on  until 


nt 


GHOST  LAND.  273 

suddenly  occurred  to  me  I  ought  to  have  opened  the 
interview  by  condoling  with  her  on  her  widowed  condi- 
tion. Before  I  had  got  half  through  the  speech  I  deemed 
it  proper  to  make  on  this  point,  the  princess  interrupted 
me  with  a  grave  assurance  that  she  quite  appreciated 
the  depth  of  my  sympathy,  but  for  her  part,  her  chief 
concern  was  in  the  idea  that  poor  Felix  must  be  such  an 
unprogressed  spirit,  in  fact,  she  could  not  rest  until 
she  had  learned  something  of  what  sphere  he  was 
in.  Unprogressed  spirit,  spheres,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing!  What  did  I  hear?  Why,  this  was  the  spiritu- 
alistic dialect  to  which  I  was  now  becoming  thoroughly 
accustomed,  and  if  my  ears  did  not  deceive  me,  the 
Princess  Ernestine  must  be  a  Spiritualist.  A  few  lead- 
ing questions  soon  settled  that  point.  The  princess  was 
a  Spiritualist,  an  ardent  one,  of  course,  —  nay,  she  had 
actually  made  a  visit  to  London  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
consulting  a  celebrated  American  medium  who  had 
lately  arrived  in  the  city.  Thus  was  my  way  made 
clear  for  me,  and  my  difficult  mission  more  than  half 
accomplished.  As  delicately  as  I  could,  I  explained 
to  her  the  singular  and  tenderly  intimate  tie  which 
had  bound  her  late  husband  to  his  young  protege. 

I  then  proceeded  to  detail  the  awkward  dilemma  in 
which  I  and  my  whole  family  were  placed,  by  the  strange 
hallucination  of  my  ward,  whom  the  princess  pronounced 
at  once  to  be  "obsessed"  by  that  violent  and  determined 
late  spouse  of  hers.  Interrupting  me  before  I  could 
explain  the  object  of  my  mission,  this  very  impulsive 
lady  launched  out  into  the  peculiar  nature  of  obsession, 
the  special  tendencies  of  that  very  obstinate  person, 
Felix  von  Marx,  and  the  certainty  that  there  was  but 
one  way  of  exorcising  him,  or  in  other  words,  getting 
rid  of  him,  and  that  was  by  boldly  confronting  him  in 

18 


274  GHOST  LAND. 

her  own  person.  She  naively  enough  assured  me,  if  it 
were  von  Marx's  spirit  that  possessed  the  victim,  there 
was  no  surer  way  of  disposing  of  him,  than  to  bring  him 
face  to  face  with  his  wife;  adding,  she  was  quite  satis- 
fied he  could  n't  stay  in  her  presence  a  single  moment, 
but  would  only  be  too  glad  to  relinquish  his  prey,  after 
which  of  course  he  would  retire  to  the  particular  sphere 
to  which  he  belonged.  ''You  see,  my  dear  friend," 
urged  the  lady,  in  a  torrent  of  eloquence  which  proved 
how  deeply  she  was  immersed  in  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration, "von  Marx  can  not  be  anything  less  than  the 
most  obstinate  of  all  spirits,  just  as  he  was  the  most 
determined  of  all  men.  ]STow,  my  plan  is  this :  I  '11  pre- 
sent myself  before  him,  announcing  my  intention  of 
remaining  there  for  life  if  it  be  necessary.  Of  course 
he  will  go,  he  can  not  but  choose  to  do  so,  and  thus 
your  friend  will  be  delivered  from  his  tormentor  and  I 
shall  have  my  chance  to  retaliate;  that  is,  of  course, 
I  don't  mean  that,  only  to  aid  this  most  unprogressed 
of  spirits  to  make  atonement  for  past  offences." 

"When  the  lady  had  talked  herself  out,  I  at  last  had 
an  opportunity  of  putting  in  a  mild  suggestion.  I  availed 
myself  of  it,  by  informing  her  my  principal  object  in 
soliciting  her  interference  was,  with  a  view  of  finally 
testing  the  truth  of  the  sad  proposition  as  to  whether 
the  young  man  was  or  was  not  obsessed  by  the  spirit 
of  !his  adopted  father. 

As  the  Chevalier  was  not  only  a  stranger  to  the  person 
of  the  princess,  but  had  never  even  heard  of  her,  it  oc- 
curred to  me,  any  intelligence  that  might  be  manifested 
by  bringing  him  suddenly  into  her  presence,  must  prove 
decisive  of  the  real  condition  of  his  mind.  Of  course 
Madame  had  ulterior  designs,  to  which  my  proposition 
was  but  subordinate.  However,  I  mentally  determined 


GHOST  LAND.  275 

to  let  matters  shape  themselves,  provided  I  could  only 
succeed  in  procuring  the  interview  and  testify  its  results 
as  above  suggested.  As  the  princess  was  perfectly  will- 
ing to  accede  to  any  arrangement  that  could  favor  the 
design  which  now  possessed  her,  namely,  that  of  help- 
ing her  late  husband  "to  become  a  progressed  spirit," 
it  was  agreed  that  she  should  accompany  me  back  to  my 
residence  that  very  evening,  so  that  by  taking  the  Chev- 
alier, as  well  as  the  whole  of  my  family  by  surprise,  we 
might  make  any  test  of  intelligence  all  the  more  confir- 
matory. 

After  an  early  dinner,  which  I  partook  of  tete-a-tete 
with  my  old  flame,  but  in  which  anxiety  for  my  ward 
colored  our  whole  conversation,  the  princess  was  good 
enough  to  take  a  seat  in  my  carriage  and  accompany  me 
to  my  house,  which  we  reached  about  eight  o'clock  in 
the  evening.  Ushering  my  fair  visitor  into  my  library, 
which  led  out  by  French  windows  on  to  a  broad  stone 
terrace  overlooking  the  garden,  I  went  out  in  search 
of  my  wife,  to  whom  I  proposed  to  mention  the  fact  of 
the  princess's  arrival.  Just  as  I  had  passed  on  to  the 
terrace,  my  wife  and  the  Chevalier,  with  whom  she  had 
been  walking,  approached,  and  I  immediately  returned 
for  the  princess,  whom  I  thus  allowed  to  encounter  the 
Chevalier  without  a  moment's  preparation  on  either  side. 
The  pale  and  haggard  face,  bent  form,  and  pleading 
eyes  of  the  unfortunate  young  man,  would  have  com- 
manded pity  from  the  least  interested  observer,  but 
when  the  singular  and  almost  preternatural  resem- 
blance that  existed  between  the  professor  and  his 
protege  is  remembered,  the  start  and  faint  cry  of  the 
princess  on  beholding  such  an  apparition,  might  easily 
be  understood. 

As  to  the  Chevalier  himself,  the  wild  glare  which  lit 


276  GHOST  LAND. 

up  his  eyes  and  the  look  of  horror  which  transfigured 
his  whole  expression,  fixed  us  all  in  anxious  expectation. 
The  deep  flush  which  at  first  mantled  his  worn  cheek, 
turned  to  a  frightful  pallor  as  he  exclaimed  in  accents 
of  deep  agitation,  "Ernestine!  Ernestine!  in  the  name 
of  heaven  and  our  dead  child,  why  have  you  come  hither 
to  torment  me?" 

"Is  it  you,  Felix?"  the  lady  murmured,  in  low  and 
trembling  accents. 

"Is  it  Felix  von  Marx?"  he  asked,  in  those  tones  of 
bitter  scorn  which  I  had  so  often  heard  from  the  profes- 
sor, but  never  before  from  the  gentle  lips  of  his  son. 
"  Is  this  poor,  shivering  wreck  the  Felix  whom  you  took 
on  that  bright,  fatal  summer  day,  O  Ernestine!  when 
I  sold  you  my  peace  and  liberty  for  a  mess  of  pottage?  " 

I  had  heard  from  von  Marx  that  this  very  expression, 
wrung  from  him  in  one  of  his  most  acrimonious  matri- 
monial disputes,  had  been  more  violently  resented  by 
his  lady  than  any  other  reproach  that  had  ever  fallen 
from  his  lips.  To  hear  it  now  repeated  by  one  who  was 
not  even  in  existence  when  it  had  been  first  uttered,  and 
who  never  by  any  possibility  could  have  heard  it  applied 
In  such  a  connection,  was  so  startling  to  myself,  my 
wife,  and  the  princess,  that  the  insult  it  conveyed,  passed 
us  all  unnoticed;  meantime  the  Chevalier,  assuming  a 
more  dignified  and  less  passionate  tone,  now  addressed 
the  lady  with  grave  courtesy  and  begged  her  to  retire 
with  him  for  a  few  moments,  then  bowing  to  me  and 
my  wife,  he  motioned  the  lady  with  an  air  of  deep 
respect  to  accompany  him  to  the  end  of  the  terrace 
where  he  seated  her,  standing  leaning  against  the  stone 
balustrade  to  the  end  of  the  interview.  As  they  retired, 
my  wife,  who  was  by  this  time  thoroughly  convinced  my 
theory  of  obsession  was  correct,  remarked  in  a  frightened 


GHOST  LAND.  277 

whisper  how  strange  it  was  that  throughout  the  whole 
scene  the  young  man  should  have  spoken  in  the  Rus- 
sian language.  Now,  we  were  both  aware  that  though 
vron  Marx  spoke  this  tongue  with  perfect  facility,  he  had 
in  vain  tried  to  induce  his  son  to  learn  it.  Its  harsh 
guttural  tones  were  so  distasteful  to  him,  that  he  always 
declared  he  could  not  study  it,  yet  he  had  used  it  in 
addressing  the  princess,  and  that  with  the  fluency  and 
correctness  of  a  native.  Madame  von  Marx  assured  us 
also  he  had  maintained  their  protracted  conversation 
entirely  in  that  language. 

"What  the  substance  of  that  interview  wras  we  never 
heard.  The  lady  wept  abundantly  as  it  proceeded,  and 
when  at  last  the  Chevalier,  bowing  to  her  profoundly, 
passed  us  and  retired,  Madame,  whom  we  immediately 
rejoined,  was  so  much  affected,  that  it  was  some  time 
before  she  could  recover  her  composure.  She  begged 
us  not  to  press  her  for  details,  but  assured  as  "that 
weird  stranger"  had  spoken  to  her  of  matters  which 
none  beside  God  and  her  late  husband  could  have 
known,  and  that  had  she  not  previously  been  convinced 
of  the  truth  of  Spiritualism,  the  unmistakable  presence 
of  Felix  von  Martfs  spirit  in  a  human  body,  whilst  his 
own  was  mouldering  in  the  grave,  must  have  converted 
her.  "We  decided  that  it  would  not  be  safe  to  subject 
our  visitor  to  a  renewal  of  these  exciting  scenes,  hence 
the  princess  determined  not  to  see  him  again;  besides, 
the  test  which  we  had  sought,  was  fully  rendered,  and 
now  the  only  question  that  remained  was  what  steps  we 
should  pursue  to  release  the  victim  from  his  terrible  and 
unnatural  bondage. 

If  my  readers  can  apprehend  the  scope  of  my  strange 
narrative,  if  they  do  not  deem  it  an  idle  and  senseless 
fabrication  rather  than  a  statement  put  on  record  for  the 


278  GHOST  LAND. 

sake  of  illustrating  one  of  the  most  momentous  and 
solemn  of  problems  in  mental  science,  they  will  per- 
ceive with  what  stupendous  difficulties  my  path  was 
now  environed. 

My  good  name  had  already  been  injuriously  associated 
with  vague  and,  of  course,  utterly  unfounded  rumors  con- 
cerning the  nature  of  the  occult  practices  in  which  I  was 
known  to  be  interested.  Despite  the  extreme  reticence 
of  my  wife  and  daughters  on  the  subject  of  our  spiritual 
investigations,  the  tidings  had  gone  abroad  that  I  had 
succeeded  in  perverting  them  from  the  faith  of  their 
fathers  and  "  inveigling  them  into  the  absurd  and  blas- 
phemous pretensions  of  the  new  sect  calling  themselves 
Spiritualists." 

These  pernicious  reports  were  sufficiently  calculated 
to  prejudice  us  in  the  opinion  of  our  large  circle  of 
acquaintance  and  painfully  affect  the  sensitive  natures 
of  my  dear  ones  at  home. 

The  sudden  death  of  the  celebrated  Professor  von 
Marx  had  excited  much  injurious  comment,  and  sufficed 
to  cast  an  ill  odor  on  all  who  were  supposed  to  be 
engaged  in  the  occult  pursuits  to  which  whispered 
rumor  attributed  his  mysterious  demise;  but  the  most 
distressing  of  all  my  perplexities  was  the  condition  of 
my  unhappy  ward.  Here  was  a  young  foreigner  of 
high  birth,  distinguished  appearance,  and  heir  to  prop- 
erty of  which  I  had  been  left  sole  trustee.  This  gen- 
tleman had  first  disappeared  and  then  reappeared  under 
the  most  mysterious  circumstances,  and  the  deep  seclu- 
sion in  which  I  was  now  said  to  hold  him,  served  to 
swell  the  tide  of  prejudice  that  was  mustering  against 
me.  The  faithful  Arabian  who  attended  on  my  ward 
could  speak  no  English,  but  my  other  domestics  con- 
verted even  this  circumstance  into  evil  testimony,  alleg- 


GHOST  LAND.  279 

ing  that  he  was  stricken  dumb  to  all  but  his  master 
under  the  influence  of  a  spell." 

The  strange  sounds  and  sights  that  had  of  late  pos- 
sessed my  house,  and  the  report  that  the  Chevalier  was 
obsessed  by  demons,  were  other  items  of  public  gossip 
against  which  I  found  it  impossible  to  make  headway. 

My  lawyers  urged  an  immediate  settlement  of  Pro- 
fessor von  Marx's  estate,  but  my  ward  was  in  no  condi- 
tion to  assist  me  in  doing  so.  Meantime  my  large  circle 
of  very  dear  friends  testified  by  the  frequency  and 
length  of  their  visits,  the  deep  interest  they  took  in  my 
private  affairs.  They  manifested  this  disposition  more 
especially  by  their  reiterated  inquiries  for  my  "  charm- 
ing ward,"  and  their  pressing  requests  that  Mrs.  Dudley 
would  bring  him  with  her  to  this  assembly  or  that  soiree, 
nay,  at  times  they  propounded  the  direct  question  to  my 
wife  and  daughters,  why  the  Chevalier  never  appeared 
in  public  any  more.  To  all  these  impertinences  my  poor 
girls  could  only  plead  their  guest's  ill  health  and  his 
inconsolable  grief  for  the  loss  of  his  friend. 

At  length  a  rumor  began  to  spread,  from  what  source 
I  know  not,  that  Professor  von  Marx  was  not  really 
dead,  but  that  his  pupil  was,  and  a  hint  was  even 
dropped  upon  the  propriety  of  exhuming  the  body  to 
ascertain  its  identity. 

The  poor  princess,  shocked  at  the  various  evil  reports 
that  were  in  circulation,  fled  away  to  the  Continent, 
postponing  her  intention  of  helping  her  late  husband's 
spirit  out  of  purgatory,  until  matters  were  more  favor- 
able for  the  experiment.  My  dear  wife  and  children 
bore  up  more  bravely  under  our  various  trials  than  I  had 
a  right  to  expect;  still  we  all  realized  that  though  the 
ominous  words  *  witchcraft "  and  w  magic  "  were  gone 
out  of  fashion,  and  we  could  no  more  become  obnoxious 


280  GHOST  LAND. 

to  the  sorcerer's  doom  of  fire  and  fagots,  there  were  yet 
two  words  of  scarcely  less  evil  import  whispered  against 
us,  and  these  were  "Spiritualism"  and  "infidelity,"  whilst 
the  fire  and  fagots  of  public  opinion  might  be  made 
scarcely  less  scorching  than  the  flames  of  the  ancient 
auto-da-fe. 

I  am  now  writing  not  so  much  for  my  own  time  or 
generation,  as  for  myself  and  posterity.  I  wish  to  leave 
a  record  behind  me  which  will  serve  as  a  mile-stone  on 
the  road  of  spiritualistic  discovery  which  later  genera- 
tions will  assuredly  traverse.  I  wish  too,  in  thus  recall- 
ing the  bitter  experiences  I  have  passed  through,  to 
analyze  some  of  the  mysteries  of  their  causation,  and 
endeavor  to  profit  by  the  lessons  they  have  afforded  me 
through  a  candid  examination  of  their  different  points. 
Let  me  add  then,  to  this  page  of  confession,  that  the 
most  insoluble  problem  that  now  beset  me,  I  found  lurk- 
ing within  the  depths  of  my  own  consciousness,  that  is 
to  say,  I  felt  entirely  uncertain  concerning  the  propri- 
ety, or  even  the  righteousness  of  my  own  past  course. 
What  had  my  researches  into  these  awful  realms  of 
spiritual  existence,  brought  to  me  and  mine?  I  asked. 

Visions  of  horror,  scenes  which  make  the  blood 
curdle  to  remember;  phantoms  from  realms  of  which 
I  knew  nothing,  and  association  with  beings  whose 
nature  was  revolting  to  my  poor,  weak  humanity.  My 
friend  too  was  dead,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  the  reveal- 
ments  which  the  weird  phenomena  around  me  brought, 
I  could  learn  110  tidings  of  his  immortal  being,  except 
such  as  filled  me  with  new  horror  and  dismay.  The 
dreadful  hallucination  of  the  young  Chevalier,  that  is. 
if  hallucination  it  was,  rather  than  a  still  more  fearful 
reality, — all  this,  added  to  my  own  doubts,  fears,  and 
present  struggles  with  public  opinion,  formed  such  an 


GHOST  LAND.  281 

array  of  calamity  that,  light-hearted  and  trusting  as  I 
generally  was,  I  felt  as  if  I  must  soon  sink  beneath  my 
burdens,  unless  indeed,  something  came  to  help  me 
endure,  or  relieve  me  from  them. 

It  was  in  the  depth  of  this  Gethsemane  that  my  dear 
girls  became  mediums,  and  furnished  to  their  afflicted 
parents  just  the  very  bread  of  life  for  which  they  were 
famishing.  The  proofs  of  immortality  these  happy, 
blessed  seances  of  ours  brought  us,  were  irresistible  and 
conclusive.  The  tokens  of  spirit  presence,  guardianship, 
and  continued  protection  became  to  our  wounded  spirits 
a  perpetual  strength  and  consolation. 

Wise,  reasonable,  just  philosophy  was  rendered  us  for 
the  difficulties  by  which  we  were  surrounded.  Profes- 
sor von  Marx's  excessive  absorption  in  occult  practices 
was  represented  as  the  cause  of  the  great  wrong  he  had 
done  to  his  beloved  protege,  rendering  him  a  mere  para- 
site on  another's  life,  and  filling  him  with  a  foreign  mag- 
netism which  destroyed  his  individuality,  and  made  him 
a  mere  fragile,  helpless  instrument  of  another's  will.  It 
was  to  this  cause  that  our  spirit  friends  attributed  the 
Chevalier's  desperate  attempt  at  suicide  and  his  present 
obsession. 

As  to  the  shafts  which  public  opinion  levelled  against 
us,  we  were  warned  that  the  path  of  the  reformer  and 
innovator  ever  runs  in  the  grooves  of  martyrdom,  and 
that  if  we  would  be  found  worthy  to  become  participants 
in  new  revelations  of  truth,  we  must  endure  the  fires  of 
persecution  from  the  disciples  of  the  old.  We  were 
promised  a  speedy  deliverance  from  all  the  pains  and 
penalties  that  now  beset  us,  although  the  way  was  not 
yet  clearly  mapped  out;  and  thus  when  I  began  to 
compare  the  sufferings  which  ignorance  and  misrepre- 
sentation put  upon  us  with  the  vast  boon  of  knowledge, 


282  GHOST  LAND. 

consolation,  and  exalting  communion  which  we  enjoyed 
by  the  new  revelation  vouchsafed  to  us,  I  concluded  the 
jewel  we  had  obtained  was  more  than  worth  the  cost, 
and  we  who  were  recipients  in  this  precious  truth,  whilst 
we  felt  the  necessity  of  shielding  it  from  vulgar  comment, 
and  reserving  our  pearls  lest  the  swine  of  calumny  and 
prejudice  should  destroy  them,  still  united  in  the  resolve 
that  we  would  continue  to  bear  our  cross  so  long  as  we 
realized  that  Calvary  was  the  footstool  of  Paradise. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

DIAEY  OF  JOHN  CAVENDISH  DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  CONTINUED. 

i 

w  FELIX  VON  MARX  has,  in  his  earth  life,  taken  him- 
self out  of  the  hands  of  loving  spirit  ministers,  and  sunk 
down  to  the  sphere  of  elementary  spirits,  from  which  he 
can  only  escape  by  a  resumption  of  the  natural  order 
of  being,  an  order  he  has  striven  to  reverse.  He  has 
entangled  the  soul  and  body  of  his  adopted  son  in  the 
same  fatal  meshes  of  error,  and  both  must  pay  the  pen- 
alty of  new  birth  and  resurrection,  through  pain  and 
sorrow,  before  they  can  come  into  the  order  of  nature, 
where  the  love  of  spirit  friends  and  kindred  can  minis- 
ter unto  them. 

w  A  little  while  longer  and  this  beneficent  change  will 
be  accomplished.  In  the  spheres  ruled  by  sub-mundane 
and  super-mundane  being,  this  great  revolution  has  origi- 
nated, and  from  thence  the  restoration  must  also  come. 
Human  spirits  can  not  yet  intervene  or  aid  them.  We 
can  but  hover  near  and  seize  upon  every  favorable  op- 
portunity to  sustain  and  strengthen  them,  until  their 
restitution  is  effected.  The  All-Father  when  he  placed 
mortals  on  earth,  wisely  dropped  a  veil  between  the  past 
and  future,  the  higher  and  lower  realms  of  being,  suffi- 
ciently opaqae  to  shield  the  dim  eyes  of  mortals  from 
too  much  light, — knowledge  too  high  or  vast  for  their 
frail  natures  to  apprehend.  The  daring  souls  who  lift 
that  veil  and  penetrate  into  the  awful  realms  beyond 


284  GHOST  LAND. 

are  like  swimmers  who  venture  into  the  billowy  wastes 
of  which  they  have  no  soundings.  Von  Marx  and 

Louis  de  B are  in  the  midst  of  these  fathomless 

abysses  of  sub-mundane  and  super-mundane  knowl- 
edge. We  cannot  help  them  yet,  but  God,  the  Father 
of  spirits,  can.  He  sees,  knows,  and  pities,  and  will  re- 
deem them  from  the  depths,  and  bring  them  into  the 
paths  he  destines  their  feet  to  tread.  Meantime  His 
providence  works  through  human  means,  and  these  you 
must  employ  to  fulfil  his  designs. 

"Once  more  the  agencies  of  magic  must  be  set  in 
motion  to  redeem  its  victims.  Call  together  then,  the 
Orphic  Circle,  and  there  you  will  receive  the  help  you 
solicit,  the  guidance  necessary  for  your  future  action, 
and  the  direction  we  cannot  give,  but  the  spirits  who 
govern  there  can." 

Such  was  the  communication  rapped  out  to  me,  letter 
by  letter,  at  one  of  our  own  family  seances  in  answer  to 
an  urgent  appeal  on  my  part  for  guidance  concerning 
my  future  course  in  connection  with  the  Chevalier  de 
B .  In  obedience  to  the  suggestions  of  the  com- 
municating spirit,  one  in  whom  we  had  all  learned  to 
repose  implicit  confidence,  I  determined  to  resume  my 
place  amongst  the  members  of  the  Orphic  Circle  at  then1 
next  regular  meeting.  I  had  not  joined  my  companions 
for  nearly  four  months,  and  the  announcement  of  my 
intention  to  do  so  induced  them  to  call  a  special  seance 
at  an  earlier  period  than  usual.  On  the  night  in  ques- 
tion I  left  my  invalid  guest  in  his  own  apartment,  whither 
he  had  retired,  declining  to  accompany  me,  as  he  com- 
plained of  an  unconquerable  tendency  to  sleep;  indeed, 
he  had  sunk  into  a  profound  slumber  before  I  left  him, 
and  I  heard  him  desire  his  servant  not  to  awaken  him 
till  the  following  morning. 


GHOST  LAND.  285 

After  our  lodge  had  been  opened  with  the  usual  for- 
mulae, the  scene  began  to  resemble  that  which  trans- 
pired on  the  night  of  Professor  von  Marx's  death.  There 
was  the  same  uncertainty  and  waiting  expectancy  in  our 
minds;  the  same  restlessness  of  feeling  amongst  our 
neophytes,  clairvoyants,  and  members.  The  lamps  flick- 
ered and  became  extinguished  spontaneously  several 
times,  although  the  indescribable  feeling  of  awe  that 
pervaded  our  assembly  induced  the  wardens  to  relight 
them,  contrary  to  our  custom.  All  at  once,  sheets  of 
lightning  flashed  through  the  room  in  every  direction, 
finally  extinguishing  every  other  light  and  followed  by 
the  most  tremendous  peals  of  thunder,  I  think,  I  ever 
heard. 

This  awful  crash  announced  the  bursting  of  a  long-, 
expected  storm,  which  had  been  brooding  over  the  city 
all  day.  For  more  than  three  hours  the  wildest  commo- 
tion of  the  elements  succeeded,  indeed,  for  many  sub- 
sequent years,  the  violence  of  the  tempest  that  raged 
that  night  was  not  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed  it. 
At  first  we  felt  relieved  by  the  opening  of  the  storm 
without,  deeming  that  the  sensations  of  oppression  we 
had  experienced  might  be  thus  naturally  accounted  for, 
but  very  soon  the  feeling  of  nameless  awe  returned,  and 
at  length  we  perceived  in  the  incessant  glare  of  the 
lightning  which  filled  our  otherwise  dark  lodge-room 
with  sheets  of  livid  flame,  a  tall  figure  standing  beside 
the  central  altar  with  one  foot  on  the  lowest  step.  At 
first  we  were  disposed  to  think  one  of  our  own  number 
had  assumed  this  position  under  the  efflatus  of  the  mag- 
netic trance,  but  the  repeated  flashes  of  the  electric  fluid 
illuminating  the  stranger's  features,  at  length  revealed 
to  all  present  the  unmistakable  similitude  of  Felix  von 
Marx.  We  noticed  too,  that  the  figure  was  arrayed  in 


286  GHOST  LAND. 

a  professor's  robe,  whilst  the  college  cap,  which  formed 
a  portion  of  the  costume,  was  distinctly  visible,  lying 
on  the  white  cloth  of  the  altar.  Let  me  here  remark, 
without  any  wrong  done  to  a  Society  many  of  whose 
sessions  and  underlying  principles,  the  members  hold 
themselves  sacredly  bound  to  keep  secret,  that  the  appa- 
ritions which  we  had  been  accustomed  to  invoke,  and 
those  described  by  our  seers,  clairvoyants,  and  neo- 
phytes, were  not  the  spirits  of  the  dead,  or  at  least  not 
so  regarded;  hence  this  unmistakable  apparition,  mani- 
fest to  all  present,  and  so  clearly  identical  with  one 
whose  mortal  remains  we  had  ourselves  committed  to 
the  grave,  made  a  deeper  and  more  profound  impression 
upon  us  than  a  thousand  spectral  forms  of  the  w  flying 
,  soul "  or  the  spirits  of  nature,  whether  in  or  out  of  the 
crystals  and  mirrors.  We  knew  that  on  that  night  no 
stranger  could  by  any  possibility  have  entered  the  hall, 
nor  had  any  one  been  present  when  the  doors  were 
locked  and  guarded,  save  the  members  and  officers  of 
the  Society. 

Several  minutes  of  fearful  suspense  elapsed,  and  then 
the  truth  began  to  flash  upon  us,  that  the  apparition  of 
von  Marx  was  not  alone.  Seated  on  the  ground  were  a 
circle  of  dark,  shrouded  figures,  such  as  we  had  seen 
some  months  before,  only  this  time  there  was  but  one  cir- 
cle, and  this  seemed  to  enclose  the  altar  and  surround 
the  tall  stranger  on  every  side  but  one,  and  in  that 
opening,  on  the  side  of  the  altar  opposite  to  von  Marx, 
stood  a  female  form  veiled  and  enveloped  in  a  lumi- 
nous white,  sparkling  mist,  through  which  we  could 
dimly  discern  the  outlines  of  her  form.  As  this  beau- 
tiful apparition  with  all  the  other  phantom  surround- 
ings became  visible,  it  seemed  as  if  we,  the  watchers, 
would  be  turned  to  stone.  My  blood  began  to  freeze  in 


GHOST  LAND.  287 

my  veins,  my  eyeballs  to  start  from  their  sockets,  and  a 
horror  such  as  I  had  never  believed  could  possess  a 
mortal  without  bereaving  him  of  life,  stole  over  me  and 
threatened  me  with  speedy  dissolution.  Had  no  relief 
come  I  am  certain  I  should  have  expired ;  and  the  sensa- 
tions I  then  felt,  I  was  afterwards  informed,  were  shared 
by  most  of  my  companions.  I  have  seen  as  well  as 
heard  much  of  spiritual  phenomena  since  that  time; 
beheld  what  is  called  by  mediums  w  materialized  forms,"' 
that  is,  human  souls  clothed  again  in  the  panoply  of 
substantial  fleshly  bodies;  but  all  these  sights  paled 
before  the  spiritual  actuality  of  this  dreadful  phantom 
band,  these  dead  alive,  through  whose  impalpable  forms 
we  could  see  the  opposite  wall,  the  glare  of  the  light- 
nings, and  each  other;  these  beings,  who  diffused  around 
them  that  aroma  of  horror,  from  which  our  sentient 
humanity  shrinks  back;  between  whom  and  us  exists  an 
invisible  barrier,  which  none  can  pass  and  live.  But 
relief  came  at  last.  A  slow  and  solemn  strain  of  music 
filled  the  hall,  commencing  at  first  in  soft  and  distant 
echoes,  then  it  grew  stronger,  firmer,  and  more  distinct, 
until  it  came  amongst  us,  and  was  evidently  accompanied 
by  the  soft  but  regular  beat  of  marching  feet.  Some- 
thing then  passed  me  by;  I  felt  the  wind  of  moving 
bodies,  and  I  saw  my  companions  stir  and  turn  their 
heads  to  look  in  the  line  of  an  invisible  procession, 
which  all  could  feel  though  none  might  see  it.  We 
also  felt  that  the  line  of  march  was  towards  the  altar. 
We  saw  by  the  unceasing  glare  of  the  lightning,  the 
crouching  forms  look  up  and  the  tall  stranger  draw  back 
to  make  way  for  the  invisible  host. 

A  space  was  cleared  in  front  of  the  altar,  which  pres- 
ently became  filled  up  with  a  dense  mass,  and  whilst  a 
succession  of  rapid  flashes  kept  the  lodge  in  a  continu- 


288  GHOST  LAND. 

• 

ous  livid  light,  we  saw  a  bier  covered  with  white  dra- 
pery, on  which  seemed  to  lie  the  sleeping  form  of  the 

Chevalier  de  B .     Then  the  female  figure  extended 

across  the  bier  a  staff  wreathed  with  a  shining  serpent. 
This  she  pointed  towards  the  male  figure,  who  took  it 
from  her  hand,  and  bent  his  head  as  if  acknowledging 
a  gift.  The  music  ceased,  and  we  heard  a  voice  issuing, 
as  it  seemed,  from  the  spot  on  which  von  Marx  stood, 
although  his  lips  moved  not,  nor  did  he  appear  to 
npeak. 

The  voice  said,  "  The  life  transfer  has  been  made ; 
man's  work  is  ended,  and  God's  has  begun.  The  woof 
of  two  lives  is  spun  anew;  one  regains  his  spiritual,  the 
other  his  mortal  birthright.  God's  will  be  done  on 
earth  as  it  is  in  heaven." 

Then  the  tone  changed,  and  from  the  direction  of  the 
female  form  came  a  voice,  sweeter  than  ever  tone  of 
music  rung  in  mortal  ears,  saying,  w  Behold,  I  show  you 
a  mystery;  we  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be 
changed;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  incorruptible."  If  more  was  spoken,  our 
deafened  ears  lost  it,  for  peal  after  peal  of  thunder 
shook  the  hall,  distracting  us  by  its  crashing  vibrations. 
A  few  seconds  of  thick  darkness  prevailed,  and  when 
next  the  streams  of  electric  fire  filled  the  hall,  it  was 
empty;  at  least,  the  phantoms  had  vanished,  although 
we  felt  their  dread  presence  passing  us  by,  pressing 
against  some  of  us  the  bier  they  carried,  and  heard 
amidst  the  pauses  in  the  heavenly  artillery,  the  beat  of 
the  rhythmical  march  and  the  faint  vibrations  of  distant 
music,  swallowed  up  again  by  the  peals  of  the  rolling 
thunder.  Muttered  exclamations  of  horror  and  the 
flare  of  matches  followed.  Some  one  in  mercy  to  the 
rest  had  relighted  the  lamps,  enabling  us  to  look  at  each 


GHOST  LAND.  289 

• 

other's  wild  and  haggard  faces  and  stagger  forth  from 
that  place  of  dread  and  glamour. 

For  four  weary  days  and  nights  I  and  my  distracted 
family  watched  by  the  cold,  rigid,  and  lifeless  form  of  our 
unhappy  guest,  ^p  morning  of  awakening  life  had 
come  for  him,  and  the  physicians  pronounced  that  the 
vital  spark  had  fled;  nay,  they  urged,  with  what  all  who 
loved  him  felt  to  be  indecent  haste,  that  the  formulae 
of  interment  should  proceed  at  once.  My  mediumistic 
girls  insisted  that  life  still  remained,  and  that  he  would 
revive  to  thank  and  bless  us;  in  fact,  the  grief  and 
indignation  of  my  wife  and  loving  children  at  the  con- 
duct of  the  strangers  around  us,  was  only  equalled  by 
the  fear  and  inhumanity  they  displayed.  The  medical 
men  shrugged  their  shoulders,  sneered  at  the  tender 
assiduity  of  the  poor  ladies,  and  muttered  prophetic 
remarks  about  lunatic  asylums.  My  dear  wife  sat  hold- 
ing the  sleeper's  lifeless  hand,  bathing  it  with  her  tears, 
but,  like  myself,  felt  uncertain  in  what  direction  to  yield 
credence. 

Deep  as  was  our  concern  for  our  cherished  guest, 
there  were  other  points  in  our  situation  of  an  equally 
distressing  character.  During  the  entire  four  nights 
and  days  of  our  sad  watch,  an  array  of  terrors  beset  us 
difficult  to  describe.  The  air,  the  ground,  the  walls,  and 
every  place  and  thing  around  us,  seemed  to  be  charged 
with  unearthly  sounds  and  spontaneous  motion.  Some- 
times we  sat  listening  to  the  pattering  of  little  feet,  or 
the  regular  beat  of  a  marching  host.  The  whining  tones 
of  small  animals,  the  rustling  of  silk,  flapping  of  wings, 
or  a  succession  of  low  knockings,  greeted  us  every- 
where; strange  birds  flew  through  our  halls  and  gal- 
leries, and  rushed  past  us  in  our  very  chambers;  indis- 
tinct forms  flitted  hither  and  thither  by  day  as  well  as 


290  GHOST  LAND. 

night.  At  times  the  noises  deepened  to  an  indescribable 
uproar,  in  which  the  ear  found  no  special  tone  to  distin- 
guish, and  then  soughed  away  to  deep  sighs,  or  distant 
moans.  When  neither  sight  nor  hearing  was  affected, 
the  scene  became  still  more  ghastly  and  oppressive  in 
appeals  to  the  sense  of  touch ;  some  object  would  press 
against  us,  or  so  disturb  the  air,  as  to  cause  vibrations 
in  all  things  around  us.  Towards  evening  and  in  the 
gray  of  the  dawn,  we  heard  on  each  successive  night, 
the  sound  of  solemn  music,  which  would  alternately 
advance  and  recede,  like  a  band  of  performers  who  came 
towards  the  place  wherever  we  might  happen  to  be, 
passed  through  it,  and  then  retreated  from  it.  These 
strains  were  not  only  delightful  to  the  ear,  but  wonder- 
fully soothing  to  our  excited  minds;  they  seemed  to 
convey  an  element  of  consolation  and  a  message  of 
peace,  very  cheering  to  us  and  entirely  free  from  the 
ghastly  prestige  of  all  the  other  manifestations.  At  the 
earnest  request  of  my  faithful  associates  of  the  Orphic 
Circle,  who  rallied  around  my  afflicted  family  with  true 
fraternal  kindness,  we  had  placed  the  poor  Chevalier  011 
a  bier,  surrounded  with  burning  tapers,  and  a  profusion 
of  the  sweet,  fresh  flowers  in  which  he  so  passionately 
delighted.  On  several  occasions  the  tapers  would  flicker 
and  go  out  spontaneously,  but  as  we  never  left  the 
sleeper  alone,  the  watchers  were  careful  to  relight  the 
tapers  at  the  very  instant  they  were  extinguished. 

Before  the  fourth  night  had  set  in,  several  of  our 
domestics  had  left  us  in  irrepressible  terror.  Those 
who  remained,  though  they  had  grown  old  and  attached 
in  our  service,  expressed  their  deepest  horror  of  the 
scenes  enacting  around  them,  but  pity  for  our  distress 
overcame  their  fears,  and  provided  they  were  permitted 
to  move  about  in  groups,  they  determined  not  to  forsake 


GHOST  LAND.  291 

us.  The  Arabian,  who  had  attended  the  young  Cheva- 
lier from  early  infancy,  throughout  this  whole  dread 
period  remained  unmoved.  He  never  left  the  chamber 
where  his  beloved  master  lay,  and  if  we  had  not  brought 
him  his  daily  mess  of  rice  and  other  simple  articles  of 
food,  he  might  have  starved  ere  he  would  have  quitted 
his  solemn  charge. 

The  heroine  of  my  now  diminished  household  was 
my  precious  Blanche.  This  brave  young  girl  rallied 
the  drooping  spirits  of  the  domestics,  and  assembling 
them  together  at  morning  and  evening,  read  them  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  and  made  them  join  her  own  pure 
voice  in  singing  solemn  hymns.  Each  night,  accompa- 
nied by  my  old  and  well-tried  butler,  she  passed  through 
every  room  in  the  dreary  mansion,  inspected  its  fasten- 
ings, and  by  her  cheerful  voice  and  noble  example, 
stimulated  the  timid  domestics  to  exert  themselves  in 
guarding  the  house  from  the  possible  inroad  of  maraud- 
ers. These  precautions  were  by  no  means  unnecessary. 
All  sorts  of  wild  reports  had  gone  abroad  concerning 
the  state  of  our  distressed  household.  For  two  days 
the  door  was  beseiged  with  curious  inquirers,  who 
sought  under  any  pretence  to  gain  admission,  or  learn 
tidings  of  what  was  passing  within.  It  would  seem 
that  the  reports  of  those  who  left  us  were  rather  dis- 
couraging to  the  idly  curious  without,  for  after  the  first 
two  days  of  our  mournful  watch  and  ward,  our  house 
was  quite  deserted,  and  even  the  tradesmen  who  pre- 
sented themselves  with  goods  at  the  servants'  entrance, 
handed  them  in  and  fled  away,  with  signs  of  terror  as 
marked,  as  if  the  place  had  been  infected  with  some 
dreadful  pestilence. 

Looking  back  upon  this  most  trying  period  of  my 
life,  I  am  amazed  to  recall  my  own  power  of  self-go v- 


292  GHOST  LAND. 

eminent  and  composure.  Like  my  youngest  daughter, 
I  felt  that  my  mission  was  to  cheer  and  strengthen 
others,  and  in  the  effort  to  do  this,  my  own  fortitude 
and  self-reliance  rose  to  the  rescue.  I  never  before, 
perhaps  I  might  own  with  compunction,  never  since, 
have  prayed  so  heartily,  never  felt  a  more  complete  reli- 
ance on  the  great,  good  God,  to  whom  I  knew  all  sub- 
ordinate agencies,  however  powerful  or  wicked,  were 
eternally  subject. 

My  faith  increased  with  every  new  trial,  and  at  last  I 
felt  able  to  endure  whatever  more  might  come,  and  only 
marvelled  what  the  worst  would  be.  I  must  not  omit  to 
mention  that  there  was  one  phenomenon  which,  though 
calculated  to  inspire  the  most  dread  of  all  others,  filled 
us  with  sentiments  of  hope  and  courage,  for  which  we 
could  not  account,  even  to  ourselves.  This  was  the 
unmistakable  sound  of  Felix  von  Marx's  voice,  speaking 
from  the  empty  air,  speaking  above,  about,  around  us, 
we  knew  not  from  whence,  but  ever  sounding  with  a 
tone  so  clearly  human,  kind,  and  encouraging,  yet  firm 
and  commanding,  that  all  our  fears  vanished  directly  his 
accents  met  our  ears.  Sometimes  he  uttered  only  the 
one  word  (r  John, "  sometimes  "  Dear  John,"  or  w  I  am 
here;  fear  nothing."  On  one  occasion  my  little  Blanche 
startled  our  dreary  hall  with  one  of  her  bright,  ringing 
peals  of  laughter,  her  delight  was  so  great,  as  she  heard 
the  full,  rich,  well-remembered  tone  crying,  "  Good  little 
Blanche,  well  done ! " 

On  the  fourth  evening  this  consoling  voice  repeated 
many  times  in  clear  and  cheery  accents,  w  All  's  well !  " 
Towards  midnight,  worn  out  as  we  were  with  a  distress 
that  knew  no  parallel,  oppressed  with  long  watching, 
the  desertion  of  the  world  without,  and  the  increasing 
prevalence  of  the  awful  disturbances  within,  I  insisted 


GHOST  LAND.  293 

that  my  dear  girls  should  retire  with  their  weeping 
mother  to  rest,  and  that  no  one  should  watch  with  me 
that  night,  but  the  faithful  Arabian,  and  my  Orphic 

brother,  Sir   Thomas   L .     Before  parting  for  the 

night,  I  dismissed  my  tired  domestics  with  a  short  prayer 
and  kind  benediction.  I  then  assembled  my  family  ? 
including  Sir  Thomas  and  the  Arabian,  in  my  library, 
which  adjoined  the  room  where  the  bier  was  laid.  There 
met  together,  I  read  to  my  sobbing  listeners  the  beautiful 
sixty-ninth  Psalm,  which  commences  thus :  "  Save  me, 
O  God,  for  the  waters  are  come  in  unto  my  soul."  Just 
as  I  had  reached  the  pathetic  words,  w  I  am  become  a 
stranger  unto  my  brethren  and  an  alien  unto  my  mother's 
children,"  I  was  struck  dumb  by  hearing  the  voice  of 
von  Marx  crying  in  sharp,  clear,  distinct  tones,  "  Louis, 
Louis,  awake !  "  Instantly  there  was  a  movement  in  the 
death-chamber;  a  deep-drawn  sigh,  then  another  and 
another.  Other  sounds  followed,  echoed  by  the  beating 
of  every  throbbing  heart ;  then  —  the  sound  of  a  foot- 
step. It  advanced  nearer,  nearer  yet.  The  half-closed 
door  between  the  rooms  was  gently  moved,  then  pushed 
open,  and  the  Chevalier,  dressed  in  his  ordinary  costume, 
as  we  had  laid  him  on  the  bier,  very  pale,  but  moving 
with  a  firm  step  and  erect  bearing,  stood  in  our  midst. 
The  light  of  reason  was  in  his  fine  eyes ;  the  smile  of 
recognition  on  his  lips.  Extending  to  my  wife  and 
myself  each,  a  cold  hand,  which  we  warmly  clasped 
to  our  hearts,  he  said  in  his  own  natural  voice  and 
sweet  Italian  accent,  "My  dear  friends,  I  have  had  a 
long,  long  sleep.  I  see  you  thought  it  was  to  have 
been  my  last;  but  your  wayward  Louis  is  not  dead 
yet  you  see,  and  will  live  for  many  years  to  thank  and 
bless  you  for  all  your  kindness." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

DIARY  OF  JOHN   CAVENDISH   DUDLEY,  ESQ.,  CONTINUED. 

Sept.  30,  18 — .  Five  months  have  elapsed  since  I 
made  my  last  entiy,  and  now  it  is  the  glorious  period 
of  ripe  autumn,  when  Nature  summons  all  her  reserved 
force  to  cast  a  spell  of  loveliness  over  the  scene,  ere  she 
closes  up  her  summer  housekeeping;  when  woods  and 
hill,  forest  and  glen,  are  adorned  in  the  richest  liveries 
of  the  fading  year ;  when  the  green  earth,  blue  sky,  and 
the  many-colored  foliage  of  the  woods,  combine  to  clothe 
the  scene  in  a  wealth  of  harmonious  beauty,  unknown 
to  any  other  season. 

I  am  reclining  on  the  velvet  turf  which  covers  the 
side  of  a  lofty  mountain  overlooking  the  boundless 
expanse  of  the  ocean.  The  purple  mists  of  an  autumn 
sunset,  crown  the  swelling  hills  of  the  distant  landscape, 
and  linger  amidst  the  shady  dells  which  checker  the 
lovely  scene.  Far  out  at  sea  the  white  sails  of  many  a 
fishing-boat  gleam  over  the  crested  waves  and  relieve 
the  expanse  of  heaving  waters  from  the  deep  loneliness 
of  an  ocean  view. 

At  the  mountain's  foot  is  the  broad  expanse  of  my 
own  domain,  the  park  and  grounds  of  my  old  ancestral 
home,  and  by  my  side,  stretched  like  myself  on  the 
mossy  turf,  is  the  object  of  my  last  eight  months  of 
incessant  care,  the  Chevalier  de  B . 

A  greater  change  than  that  between  my  town  resi- 


GHOST  LAND.  295 

dence  and  the  sea-side  home  in  which  we  now  luxuriate, 
has  come  over  my  esteemed  but  singular  guest.  All  of 
youth  or  youthful  manners,  thoughts  or  habits,  have 
wholly  disappeared  in  him.  He  speaks  and  acts  like  a 
man  of  mature  life,  yet  he  is  not  yet  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  Although  he  has  become  almost  restored  to  his 
ordinary  share  of  health  and  strength,  the  cataclysms 
of  the  past,  have  robbed  him  of  that  vigor  and  elas- 
ticity which  should  mark  his  time  of  life;  and  whilst 
regaining  the  singular  beauty  of  person  which  formerly 
distinguished  him,  there  is  a  weary  air,  and  a  sad,  far- 
away expression  in  his  fine  face,  which  never  brightens 
into  mirth  or  lights  up  with  joy.  He  never  speaks  of 
Professor  von  Marx,  and  whenever  I  chance  to  mention 
his  name,  he  listens  with  a  shiver,  and  shrinks  away  from 
the  subject  with  such  evident  distress,  that  I  have  come 
to  regard  that  once  dear  and  familiar  name,  as  tabooed 
between  us.  The  passive  submission  which  once  dis- 
tinguished his  manner,  has  now  changed  to  a  stately, 
dignified  demeanor,  which  speaks  of  fixed  purpose  and 
firm  will.  Though  kind  and  courteous  to  all,  affec- 
tionate to  myself  and  family,  and  deferential  to  the 
opinions  of  others,  there  is  a  wall  <of  isolation  built  up 
around  him,  which  none  can  surmount;  a  lonely  ab- 
straction which  repels  all  human  sympathy  and  silently 
rejects  all  confidence.  In  his  days  of  convalescence,  I 
communicated  to  him  the  details  of  Professor  von 
Marx's  will,  his  generous  bequest  of  his  small  yet  suffi- 
cient fortune  to  him,  and  his  desire  that  I  should  become 
his  guardian  and  trustee.  He  listened  to  the  financial 
details  with  some  show  of  impatience,  carelessly  alluded 
to  his  own  resources,  which  he  supposed  were  already 
sufficient  for  his  simple  requirements;  but  he  seemed 
too  indifferent  even  to  converse  upon  a  topic  so  impor- 


296  GHOST  LAND. 

taut  to  most  young  men  as  the  bequest  of  an  indepen- 
dence. Somewhat  piqued  in  my  own  mind  by  what  I 
could  not  for  the  life  of  me  help  considering  as  ingrati- 
tude for  the  poor  professor's  fatherly  care,  I  remarked, 
perhaps  rather  coldly,  "My  dear  old  friend's  chief 
sources  of  income,  were  derived  from  the  exercise  of 
his  brilliant  talents;  still,  the  bequest  of  every  shilling 
he  died  possessed  of,  proves  his  desire  to  convince  you 
that  his  affection  for  you  survives  beyond  the  grave. 
Don't  you  think  so?"  With  an  expression  of  anguish 
such  as  I  have  rarely  seen  upon  any  human  countenance, 
the  young  man  gazed  at  me  for  a  moment,  then  crying 
in  a  choking  voice,  w  Oh,  hush !  hush !  if  you  would 
not  kill  me  or  drive  me  mad,"  he  buried  his  face  in 
his  hands,  over  which  the  tears  streamed  fast  and  thick. 
I  was  shocked  at  the  effect  of  my  unkind  remark  and 
strove  to  atone  for  it  by  blundering  apologies;  but  I 
soon  found  I  had  unstopped  with  reckless  hand  the 
vials  of  a  grief  too  deep  for  utterance,  and  one  which, 
thus  renewed,  bore  down  all  the  barriers  of  self-con- 
trol, which  the  silent  mourner  had  been  laboring  to 
erect  around  him.  His  form  shook  with  convulsive 
sobs;  he  threw  himself  on  the  ground,  tearing  up 
handfuls  of  earth  and  sod,  in  his  wild  and  uncon- 
trollable grief.  I  was  fairly  aghast,  and  knew  not  what 
to  say  or  do  in  such  a  crisis,  when,  for  the  first  time  for 
nearly  five  months,  I  was  equally  startled  and  rejoiced 
to  hear  the  low,  deep  tones  of  Felix  von  Marx's  spirit, 
murmuring  clearly  in  my  ear,  w  Leave  him  to  me."  I 
retreated,  and  never  again  ventured  on  such  dangerous 
ground,  except  to  speak  of  such  business  arrangements 
as  were  absolutely  essential  to  be  discussed.  When  I 
again  mentioned  the  topic  of  my  guardianship,  he 
thanked  me,  with  many  expressions  of  grateful  appre- 


GHOST  LAND.  297 

elation,  but  stated,  as  one  that  had  formed  a  resolution 
from  which  there  could  be  no  departure,  that  he  should 
be  glad  to  stay  with  me  for  one  year;  he  then  proposed 
to  take  his  leave,  having  determined  to  visit  Madame 
his  mother,  now  his  sole  surviving  parent  in  India. 
I  was  a  little  taken  aback  at  the  quiet  air  of  determina- 
tion with  which  this  plan  was  announced,  and  asked  him 
if  he  desired  to  spend  that  intervening  year  in  college, 
or  some  seat  of  learning,  where  he  could  cultivate  his 
wonderfully  intellectual  powers  by  study. 

"No,  no,  no!  my  friend,"  he  replied,  with  that 
nervous  haste  which  always  seemed  to  possess  him, 
when  any  allusions  were  made  to  his  past  life.  "I  shall 
never  study  again,  at  least  not  in  schools  or  colleges. 
My  future  studies  must  be  conducted  in  the  hard 
school  of  life,  but  not  in  books.  I  cannot  read!  I  can- 
not read !  I  shall  not  need  to  do  so  either."  And  read 
he  did  not.  I  never  saw  him  open  a  book  whilst  he 
remained  with  me,  yet  his  conversation  upon  every 
subject  except  his  own  past  life,  was  brilliant  and 
masterly.  He  played  and  sang  exquisitely,  yet  he 
never  glanced  at  a  note  of  music,  nor  do  I  know  when 
or  how  he  had  learned  that  art.  Except  in  his  prepara- 
tion for  his  military  career,  none  of  his  acquirements 
were  of  a  scholastic  character,  yet  their  compass  and 
range  was  immense.  He  could  solve  a  mathematical 
problem  and  speak  with  the  utmost  correctness  of 
geometrical  proportions,  yet  sound  him  on  the  methods 
by  which  he  had  arrived  at  his  conclusions,  and  he 
became  confused,  and  said  he  had  not  studied  enough 
to  answer.  He  would  discourse  brilliantly  on  geo- 
logical formations  and  was  never  weary  of  descanting 
on  the  grandeur  of  the  universe,  but  when  pressed 
to  answer  some  question  of  mere  detail,  he  would  gaze 


298  GHOST  LAND. 

wildly  at  the  questioner,  and  complain  that  such  subjects 
troubled  him.  In  ancient  lore,  especially  on  the  founda- 
tions of  theology,  astrology,  and  ethnology,  I  have  heard 
this  strange  being  discourse  by  the  hour.  With  eyes  fixed 
on  some  far-distant  object,  and  seemingly  unconscious 
of  the  interest  and  admiration  he  excited,  he  would 
pour  forth  a  stream  of  eloquence  on  the  most  occult 
subjects.  Color,  form,  tone,  earth,  heaven,  the  marvels 
of  astronomy,  the  superb  architecture  of  the  universe,— 
everything,  in  short,  that  a  long  life  of  profound  study 
would  have  informed  others  of,  this  young  man  de- 
scribed in  words  that  burned  into  the  listener's  con- 
sciousness, and  when  the  tides  of  thought  ceased  to 
flow,  he  would  stammer,  stare  wildly,  seem  worn  and 
exhausted,  and  sink  back  into  his  usual  abstracted  iso- 
lation. Nothing  ever  seemed  to  distress  him  so  much, 
as  the  attempt  to  find  out  whence  he  derived  his  knowl- 
edge, or  how  he  had  acquired  such  a  vast  fund  of  infor- 
mation. I  have  seen  others  of  his  stamp  since  then; 
trance  mediums  gifted  with  a  similar  influx  of  inspira- 
tion, but  the  type  was  new  to  me  when  I  first  saw  the 
Chevalier  de  B ,  nor  do  I  ever  remember  any  som- 
nambulist as  highly  gifted  as  him. 

When  he  announced  his  intention  to  stay  with  me 
for  one  year,  he  added,  "I  will  remain  for  your  good, 
my  best  and  truest  friend,  as  well  as  for  my  own.  I 
can  tell  you  some  things  that  will  interest  you;  you 
will  help  this  shivering,  unstrung,  frame  of  mine,  to 
grow  into  strength  and  manhood." 

These  were  the  very  words  he  was  speaking  at  the 
time  marked  in  my  diary  at  the  opening  of  this  chapter. 
We  had  never  held  any  seances  of  the  Orphic  Society 
since  the  memorable  night  of  the  Chevalier's  resuscita- 
tion. The  great  shock  we  then  experienced,  and  the 


GHOST  LAND.  299 

cares  which  had  since  engrossed  me  with  my  invalid 
ward,  had  determined  us  to  adjourn  until  the  winter. 
During  my  young  friend's  convalescence  all  my  butter- 
fly acquaintances  had  returned;  congratulations  poured 
in  upon  me,  and  my  weird  reputation  changed  for  a  char- 
acter of  w  unmixed  firmness  and  benevolence  " ;  meantime, 
I  had  deemed  it  prudent  in  my  intercourse  with  my  sin- 
gular charge  to  avoid  all  allusion  to  his  past  life  or 
occult  subjects  generally.  How  to  deal  most  tenderly 
with  this  fearfully  sensitive  nature  was  my  sole  care,  and 
in  so  doing,  I  utterly  disregarded  the  advice  of  my 
Orphic  associates,  namely,  to  take  every  opportunity  of 
cultivating  his  remarkable  powers  of  clairvoyance,  or, 
as  we  had  now  learned  to  term  it,  mediumistic  gifts. 
My  daughters  and  many  of  their  young  acquaintances 
still  held  spirit  circles,  and  I  often  joined  them  with 
my  dear  wife,  when  we  derived  such  happiness  as  the 
earth  and  earthly  things  could  not  bring,  in  com- 
munion with  our  beloved  angel  guardians.  To  the 
Chevalier  I  never  spoke  of  these  seances.  I  believe 
he  knew  of  their  occurrence,  but  he  never  mentioned 
them  to  me,  and  generally  absented  himself  from  the 
house  when  they  were  in  session. 

Unearthly  sounds  had  not  wholly  ceased,  nor  did  the 
flitting  forms  of  unknown  beings  altogether  disappear 
from  our  old,  time-honored  residence,  but  these  mystic 
sights  and  sounds  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  apart- 
ments occupied  by  the  Chevalier  and  his  Arab  servant, 
and  into  these  charmed  precincts  I  was  the  only  member 
of  the  family  that  ever  penetrated.  I  know  I  heard 
thrilling,  mystic  voices  more  than  once,  in  conversation 
with  my  strange  ward  when  I  approached  his  rooms; 
sometimes,  too,  I  saw  unmistakably,  a  beautiful,  luminous 
female  form  hovering  in  the  moonlight  when  I  had  lin- 


300  GHOST  LAND. 

gered  with  him  alone  after  the  night  had  fallen;  but  as 
he  never  entered  with  me  on  the  topic  of  the  inner  life, 
and  I  would  no  more  have  dared  broach  it  to  him  than  I 
would  have  trodden  on  a  wounded  foot,  the  subject  was 
entirely  dropped  between  us  until  the  evening  that  again 
introduces  us  to  —  whoever  my  readers  may  chance  to 
be.  On  this  occasion  my  guest,  raising  himself  on  his 
arm  and  fixing  his  dark,  luminous  eyes  on  mine,  said, 
"  Mr.  Dudley,  why  don't  you  renew  the  Orphic  seances 
with  which  you  were  so  interested?  " 

*  Why  don't  I  renew  them?"  I  said,  taken  aback  by 
the  abruptness  of  the  question.  w  Because  —  because  — 
I  have  been  engaged  in  other  matters ;  besides,  you  see, 
we  are  away  off  in  the  country,  and  our  lodge  is  in 
town,  you  know." 

:cWhat  does  that  matter?"  rejoined  my  companion, 
with  that  impetuosity  which  I  had  begun  to  associate 
with  his  most  abnormal  conditions.  "  The  place  matters 
little,  except  when  it  is  favorable  or  otherwise  to  the 
work  in  hand.  Mr.  Dudley,  summon  your  companions," 
naming  over  rapidly  several  gentlemen,  near  neighbors 
of  mine,  whom  I  knew  to  be  interested  in  occult  pur- 
suits, but  of  whose  secret  predilections  I  had  no  reason 
to  think  the  Chevalier  had  been  aware.  "Call  them 
together  and  establish  a  lodge-room  in  the  midst  of  yon 
glorious  grove;  the  grove  behind  that  hill,  I  mean.  It 
is  your  own  property,  and  you  can  take  measures  to 
secure  it  from  interruption." 

"  I  like  your  idea,"  I  replied,  w  but  you  know  we  have 
none  of  our  lucides  or  clairvoyants  within  reach,  nor 
shall  we  be  likely  to  meet  with  them  again  till  winter." 

?  You  will  need  none,"  replied  the  Chevalier  in  his 
far-off,  dreamy  way. 

I  did  not  question  him  then,  for  I  was  beginning  to 


GHOST  LAND.  301 

understand  this  "  mystic  "  better  and  better  every  day. 
I  only  asked,  therefore,  when  he  thought  we  might 
begin. 

w  One  week  from  now." 

w  Be  it  so.     The  plan  shall  be  put  in  operation." 

For  the  next  six  days  I  busied  myself  incessantly  with 
gardeners,  woodsmen,  and  carpenters.  I  had  a  space 
cleared  in  the  centre  of  a  thick  grove  of  pines  which 
grew  in  the  bottom  of  an  amphitheatre,  surrounded  on 
all  sides  but  one  by  precipitous  rocks  difficult  of 
descent.  The  fourth  side  was  bounded  by  a  lovely 
little  lake,  on  which  I  was  accustomed  to  have  boats 
plying  for  the  enjoyment  of  my  family  and  visitors. 
As  the  lake  and  the  whole  of  the  surrounding  ground 
was  on  my  own  estate,  there  was  no  fear  of  any  stran- 
gers gaining  access  to  our  romantic  lodge,  especially 
when  I  issued  orders  that  no  boats  should  ply  at  the 
time  when  we  were  in  session.  As  our  meetings  were 
fixed  for  the  evening,  I  hacj  lamps  hung  up  in  the  trees 
around  the  open  space,  and  a  temporary  shed  erected  in 
which  to  keep  our  instruments  of  music,  etc. 

The  arrangements  were  as  nearly  as  possible  mod- 
elled after  our  lodge-room  in  town. 

There  was  but  one  of  our  London  members  living 
near  me,  and  that  was  a  fine  old  French  gentleman  who 
might  have  formed  a  not  unapt  representative  of  Scott's 
rf  Last  Minstrel."  He  was  a  poet w  improvisatore  "  and 
divine  harpist.  Several  of  our  other  members  were  mu- 
sicians, singers,  and  members  of  an  amateur  madrigal 
club,  to  which  in  my  younger  days  I  had  myself  be- 
longed. Here,  then,  were  all  the  elements  required  for 
our  seances,  save  always  the  officiating  priest,  about  the 
identity  of  whom  I  at  first  speculated  with  some  anxi- 
ety. When  the  appointed  evening  arrived,  however,  I 


302  GHOST  LAND. 

at  once  understood  that  my  young  friend,  penetrated 
with  gratitude  for  the  services  I  and  my  family  had 
been  the  happy  instruments  of  rendering  him  in  his 
hours  of  severest  trial,  had  determined  to  devote  the 
one  year  of  his  residence  with  me  to  the  gratification 
of  my  dearest  wishes,  —  namely,  the  interpretation  of 
the  divine  order  of  being,  the  profound  mysteries  of 
nature,  and  the  grand  arcana  of  creation,  as  revealed 
by  the  inspiration  of  the  noblest  spiritual  influences, 
through  his  own  entranced  lips. 

For  one  entire  year  I  and  a  choice  circle  of  friends 
were  the  highly  privileged  recipients  of  these  sublime 
truths,  conveyed  to  us  partly  in  our  woody  amphitheatre 

at  N ,  partly  in  a  London  lodge,  which  we  had  fitted 

up  expressly  for  these  sacred  meetings,  from  which  all 
but  an  assemblage  of  kindred  minds  were  excluded. 

From  the  first  seance,  I  had  fortunately  secured  the 
conditions  by  which  they  could  be  reported.  The 
memoranda  transcribed  from  the  phonographic  notes 
of  one  of  our  party,  who  kindly  devoted  himself  to  this 
service,  are  still  in  my  possession,  and  may  one  day  be 
given  to  the  world.  Much  of  the  ideality  they  abound 
with  has  become  filtered  through  the  utterances  of  other 
inspired  media  during  the  new  dispensation,  but  never 
have  I  read,  heard  of,  or  imagined  a  scheme  of  divine 
order  so  grand,  so  just,  complete,  and  beautiful  in  all 
its  details,  as  that  furnished  us  by  the  inspiration  of  this 
highly-gifted  mystic. 

In  my  plain  and  homely  phraseology  I  may  venture 
to  say  I  think  more  highly  of  myself  and  my  kind,  the 
world  I  live  in,  the  scheme  of  which  I  am  a  part,  and 
the  God  who  created  and  sustains  me,  as  I  find  al}  these 
elements  of  being  described  and  explained  in  these  sub- 
lime trance-addresses;  and  now,  if  I  have  dwelt  long, 


GHOST  LAND.  303 

fondly,  and  perhaps  with  too  much  minutige  of  detail, 
upon  the  strange  events  which  have  served  to  carve  out 
the  remarkable  character  of  whom  T  have  written,  nay, 
if  I  have  seemed  to  exaggerate  his  excellences  almost 
to  the  rank  of  a  hero  of  romance,  it  is  not  because  I  am 
moved  by  the  deep  affection  which  he  has  won  from 
me  and  all  around  him,  not,  as  many  cursory  observers 
have  declared,  because  we  who  knew  and  loved  him 
were  "under  the  spell  of  his  many  attractive  qualities,*' 
but  because  I  perceived  in  hint,  as  in  all  sensitives, 
mediums,  and  mystics,  idiosyncrasies  which  if  carefully 
studied  and  classified,  would  serve  as  the  basis  of  a 
new  phase  of  mental  science,  and  one  of  which  the 
world  stands  very  much  in  need. 

Looking  back  upon  my  intercourse  with  the  Chevalier 
de  B ,  I  find  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  and  inter- 
esting examples  of  abnormal  power  and  spiritual  inspi- 
ration it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  encounter,  but  I  have 
also  found  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  how  far 
the  practices  of  animal  magnetism  and  human  psychol- 
ogy can  be  abused  and  perverted  from  their  true  use.  to 
become  an  instrument  of  ruin,  mental  imbecility,  and 
even  madness. 

Happily,  my  experiences  with  this  gentleman  bore 
witness  also  to  the  per  contra  of  this  fatal  position,  and 
showed  how  healthful  and  elevating  pure  spiritual  influ- 
ences and  high  inspiration  may  become,  when  exercised 
upon  a  self-centred  mind  and  freed  from  the  interven- 
tion of  powerful  human  influences. 

I  need  scarcely  offer  to  the  intelligent  reader  and 
comments  on  the  history  of  this  young  man's  subject 
tion,  and  the  final  subversion  of  all  personal  identity  to 
his  erring  but  devoted  friend,  Felix  von  Marx.  The 
history  conveys  its  own  moral  rebuke  and  lesson. 


304  GHOST  LAND. 

The  narrative  of  the  "  life  transfer,"  mysterious  and 
unprecedented  as  it  is,  I  solemnly  affirm  I  have  detailed 
word  for  word  and  incident  for  incident  exactly  as  it 
occurred,  as  far  as  I  myself  apprehended  it.  The  ter- 
rible visions  and  spectral  scenes  at  the  Orphic  Circles 
only  partially  explain  the  mystery  of  their  origin  and 
meaning,  but  because  their  awful  demonstrations  were 
shared  with  me  by  many  other  witnesses,  who  urge 
me  to  place  them  on  record,  I  have  fulfilled  this  task  as 
faithfully  as  an  earnest  desire  to  narrate  the  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth  could  inspire  me  to  do.  I  can 
scarcely  expect  to  obtain  credit  for  my  statements,  not 
because  they  are  more  remarkable  or  startling  than  the 
wonders  which  are  now  transpiring  amongst  us  every 
day  in  the  annals  of  the  modern  spiritualistic  movement, 
but  because  they  did  not  occur  in  a  commonplace  way, 
and  because  there  are  urgent  reasons  why  I  cannot 
openly  and  publicly  vouch  for  their  reliability.  I  know 
the  lack  of  authenticity  which  attaches  to  an  anony- 
mous writer,  and  one  so  deeply  interested  in  his  subject 
as  I  have  been;  still  I  am  compelled  and  impelled  to  write. 
I  put  my  narrative  into  the  great  cauldron  of  Time,  con- 
fident that  the  base  metals  of  error  and  misapprehension 
will  ultimately  be  fused  away,  whilst  the  grains  of  true 
gold  will  be  gathered  up  and  become  current  coin  in  the 
generations  that  shall  be;  and  now,  for  the  present  at 
least,  my  journal  in  connection  with  my  much  esteemed 

friend,  the  Chevalier  de  B ,  must  draw  to  a  close. 

Well  and  nobly  has  he  paid  me  with  gems  of  inspiration 
and  heavenly  truth,  for  all  I  endured  in  his  behalf  during 
our  seasons  of  great  trial. 

The  time  came  at  length  when  his  highly  prized 
ministry  was  to  cease  amongst  us,  and  young  and  old  in 
my  household,  mistress  and  maid,  master  and  servant, 


GHOST  LAND.  305 

looked  sorrowfully  and  with  heavy  hearts  to  that  to- 
morrow when  we  should  see  his  face  no  more. 

The  day  came  when  I  was  to  depart  for  America,  my 
friend  to  India; — I,  on  a  mission  hardly  known  to  my 
family,  scarcely  acknowledged  to  myself:  to  search  into 
the  realities  of  the  much-vaunted  American  spiritualis- 
tic movement  by  a  tour  through  the  United  States  that 
I  designed  should  occupy  me  one  year;  my  friend  to 
enter  upon  those  stormy  scenes  of  public  life  which 
have  made  for  him  a  name  and  fame  which  few  would, 
or  ever  will  associate  with  the  dreamy,  unearthly  mystic 
whom  Felix  von  Marx  delighted  to  call  his  "moody 
sprite,"  his  "well-beloved  Ariel." 

w  God  bless  and  keep  you,  and  good  angels  have  you 
in  charge,  my  Louis ! "  I  muttered,  between  the  spasms 
of  nose-blowing  and  eyes-wiping,  as  I  stood  waving  a 
very  damp  handkerchief  on  the  wharf  from  which  a 
splendid  East  Indiaman  was  setting  sail  on  the  day 
when  I  took  leave  of  my  friend,  —  he  whom  I  would 
so  gladly,  so  proudly  have  called  my  son,  had  Fate  so 
willed  it. 

*  We  meet  again  this  day  ten  years  hence,  my  kind 

and  generous  friend,"  cried  the  Chevalier  de  B , 

returning  the  salute. 

I  watched  the  white  signal  waving  in  the  breeze  as 
long  as  my  blurred  eyes  could  keep  the  noble  form  of 
my  friend  in  sight,  and  when  at  last  I  stood  staring  at 
vacancy,  and  suddenly  remembered  what  a  spectacle  I 
was  making  of  myself  to  the  booby  wharf-men  standing 
by,  I  turned  away,  murmuring, "  Ten  years !  It  is  a  long 
time  to  wait,  but  he  will  surely  come." 


PART   II. 


THE  ADEPT. 


PART   II. 


INVOCATION:     THE  SOUL'S  LITANIES.* 

THOU  who  dost  dwell  alone, 
Thou  who  dost  know  thy  own, 
Thou  to  whom  all  are  known 
From  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
Save,  oh,  save  I 

From  the  world's  temptations, 
From  tribulations, 
From  that  fierce  anguish 
Wherein  we  languish, 
From  that  torpor  deep 
Wherein  we  lie  asleep, 
Heavy  as  death,  cold  as  the  grave, 
Save,  oh, save I 

When  the  soul,  growing  clearer,  , 

Sees  God  no  nearer, 

When  the  soul,  mounting  higher, 

Sees  God  no  nigher, 

But  the  arch-fiend  Pride 

Mounts  at  her  side, 

Foiling  her  high  emprize 

Sealing  her  eagle  eyes; 

And  when  she  fain  would  soar, 

Makes  idols  to  adore, 

Changing  the  pure  emotion 

Of  her  high  devotion, 

*  The  beautiful  lines  here  quoted  were  selected  from  a  spiritual  journal,  entitled 

The  Principle,  and  sent  by  the  editor  some  years  ago  to  the  Chevalier  de  B ,  who 

has  ever  since  adopted  them  as  his  favorite  expression  of  prayerful  aspiration;  he 
also  deems  them  the  most  appropriate  possible  prologue  to  the  second  part  of  his 
autobiography.  —  ED.  GHOST  LAND. 


310  GHOST  LAND. 

To  a  skin-deep  sense 
Of  her  own  eloquence, 
Strong  to  deceive,  strong  to  enslave, 
Save,  oh, save  I 

From  the  ingrained  fashion 

Of  this  earthly  nature 

That  mars  thy  creature  ; 
From  grief  that  is  but  passion, 
From  mirth  that  is  but  feigning, 

From  tears  that  bring  no  healing, 
From  wild  and  weak  complaining, 

Thine  whole  strength  revealing, 
Save,  oh, save  1 

From  doubt  where  all  is  double, 

Where  wise  men  are  not  strong, 
Where  comfort  turns  to  trouble, 
Where  just  men  suffer  wrong, 
Where  sorrow  treads  on  joy, 
Where  sweet  things  soonest  cloy, 
Where  faiths  are  built  on  dust, 
Where  love  is  half  mistrust, 
Hungry  and  barren  and  sharp  as  the  sea, 
Oh,  set  us  free  I 

Oh,  let  the  false  dreams  fly 
Where  our  sick  souls  lie, 
Tossing  continually  I 
Oh,  where  thy  voice  doth  come, 
Let  all  doubts  be  dumb, 
Let  all  words  be  mild, 
All  strifes  be  reconciled, 
All  pains  be  beguiled  I 
Let  light  bring  no  blindness, 
Love  no  unkindness, 
Knowledge  no  ruin, 
Fear  no  undoing  I 
From  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
Save,  oh, save  1 


GHOST   LAND. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF  THE  CHEVALIER 
DE  B ,  CONTINUED. 

RETROSPECT. 

TWENTY  years, — what  a  mere  breath  in  time !  A  turn- 
ing of  the  sand-glass,  a  sweeping  over  the  sky  of  a  sum- 
mer cloud,  a  sigh,  a  sob,  a  tear,  such  a  period  seems,  when 
we  look  back  upon  it  and  try  to  apprehend  the  nature  of 
time  by  retrospection;  yet  when  we  gauge  it  by  the 
events  which  have  crowded  its  onward  course,  what  an 
epoch  of  momentous  interest  may  not  twenty  years 
become!  To  traverse  many  lands,  sound  the  heart- 
throbs, listen  to  the  inner  revealings,  and  learn  the  life 
mysteries  of  many  a  strange  people;  to  trace  out  the 
panoramas  of  a  mighty  past,  whose  swift,  silent  footsteps 
leave  no  echoes  in  eternity,  yet  whose  march  has  left 
imprints  which  strike  the  beholders  dumb  with  awe  and 
self-abasement  as  they  contemplate  the  littleness  of  the 
one  compared  to  the  immensity  of  which  that  one  is  a 
part;  to  plunge  into  the  fields  of  carnage,  steel  the 
heart  to  the  temper  of  the  sword,  slay  and  stand  to  be 
slain,  drown  the  pleadings  of  humanity,  pity,  mercy,  and 
fraternal  love  in  the  thunder  of  artillery  and  the  rever- 
berations of  deadly  musketry;  to  lie  amidst  heaps  of 

(311) 


312  GHOST  LAND. 

slain,  matching  glory  against  mutilation,  and  hearing  the 
vain  boasts  of  patriotism  answered  by  the  shrieks  of 
agony  and  the  groans  of  torn  and  bleeding  humanity; 
to  pine  in  the  loathsome  dungeon,  and  risk  life,  name, 
and  fame  on  hair-breadth  escapes;  to  bask  in  the  sun- 
light of  royal  favor,  and  hear  the  breath  of  the  fickle 
multitude  shouting  hosannas  to  a  popular  name  one 
day,  and  the  next  to  skulk  in  the  shadows  of  political 
disgrace,  and  wander  without  home  or  land,  without 
where  to  lay  a  houseless  head;  to  muster  all  the  fires  of 
life  upon  the  altar  of  a  vain  love,  and  see  them  quenched 
into  dust  and  ashes ;  to  heap  up  fame  and  glory,  knowl- 
edge and  renown,  love  and  triumph;  pierce  the  mysteries 
of  space, — even  to  the  unknowable, — and  command  its 
legionaries,  climb  up  to  heaven  and  steal  thence  the 
Promethean  fire,  plunge  into  the  abyss  and  master  its 
hidden  secrets, — to  do 'all  this,  and  then  see  the  piled-up 
treasures  fade,  sink,  burn,  consume,  grow  dim,  cold  — 
nothing — or  at  last  melt  away  into  a  vague  memory! 
This  may  be  the  sum  of  twenty  years,  —  the  twenty 
years  which,  to  recall  in  the  aggregate,  is  but  a  breath 
in  time,  a  turning  of  the  sand-glass,  but  which  to 
live,  minute  by  minute,  is  all  this  and  more ;  for  all  this, 
and  more,  formed  the  sum  of  my  twenty  years  of  life 
after  I  parted  from  the  kindest,  best  of  friends,  John 
Cavendish  Dudley,  on  a  London  wharf,  to  sail  away  for 
the  burning  land  of  Hindostan. 

Such  retrospects  taken  in  detail  are  of  little  use  to 
humanity,  save  as  sources  of  amusement.  One,  will 
listen  shudderingly,  and,  turning  away  from  the  stormy 
picture,  sigh  for  the  rest  which  human  life  never  grants. 
Some  "Desdemonas"  may  weave  out  ideal  heroes  from 
the  narrative,  but  still  more  will  divide  their  interest  in 
it  with  a  tale  from  the  New  York  Ledger  or  a  London 


GHOST  LAND.  313 

melodrama.  None  can  know,  or  ought  to  know,  the 
worth  of  a  single  life's  experience  to  any  but  the  actor 
therein,  unless  that  life  has  a  specialty  in  which  all  man- 
kind can  share,  and  in  which  the  immediate  interests  of 
humanity  are  concerned.  It  is  because  I  have  such  a 
specialty  to  offer  that  I  now  write. 

I  have  something  that  has  followed  me,  or  rather 
infilled  my  soul,  through  every  changing  scene,  in  every 
wild  mutation  of  fortune, —  on  the  battle-field,  in  the 
dungeon,  in  the  cabinet  of  princes,  in  the  hut  of  the 
charcoal-burner,  in  the  deep  crypts  of  Central  India, 
and  amidst  the  awful  rites  of  Oriental  mysticism,  in 
the  paradises  of  love,  and  the  shipwreck  of  every  hope, — 
something  which  has  never  forsaken  or  left  me  alone; 
something  which  stands  by  me  now,  as  I  write  in  my 
sea-girt  island  dwelling,  on  the  shores  of  the  blue  Med- 
iterranean; something  which  has  spoken  peace  to  my 
soul  when  the  storm  raged  the  fiercest  and  the  fever 
burned  the  highest;  something  that  promises  me,  not 
a  dwelling-place  merely,  but  a  sweet  home,  a  long  rest, 
and  a  happy  awakening  in  eternal  sunlight,  amidst 
friends  and  love  and  blossoms  that  never  fade,  "  when 
life's  fitful  fever  is  burnt  out"  and  all  is  done  with 
earth :  and  that  something  is  the  voice  of  an  ever-faithfuj 
spirit  friend,  murmuring  in  my  ear,  "  There  is  another 
and  a  better  world." 

LOVE  and  TRUTH!  These  are  the  fruits  which  the 
bruised  hands  of  humanity  can  gather  from  the  tree  of 
spiritual  life  which  grows  in  the  midst  of  earth-life's 
barren  wilderness.  Were  it  not  so,  I  never  would  have 
written  these  pages;  never  have  opened  the  vest  of 
the  careless  cosmopolitan  to  expose  to  view  the  scarred 
breast  that  throbs  beneath  it;  but  knowing  as  I  do 
that  mortal  life  with  all  its  tremendous  pains  and  pen- 


314  GHOST  LAND. 

alties  becomes  not  only  endurable,  but  a  boon  and  a 
blessing,  when  heaven  is  the  goal,  and  rest  and  glory 
beckon  us  on,  so  I  have  determined  to  pause  InTKe 
midst  of  my  wild  career,  and  give  such  scattered  rays 
of  light  as  I  have  gathered  up  to  the  world  that  suffers 
as  I  have  done,  and  that  perishes  as  I  should  have  done 
amidst  life's  storms  and  tempests,  had  I  not  felt  the 
grasp  of  a  spirit  hand  upon  my  sinking  form,  and 
heard  the  precious  whisper  of  assurance  staying  me  in 
the  deepest  trough  of  the  stormiest  sea. 

Hitherto  I  have  been  compelled  to  make  personal 
adventures  the  vehicle  in  which  strange  spiritual  expe- 
riences were  to  be  given  to  the  world.  The  mysterious 
processes  of  animal  magnetism  and  their  silent  but 
formative  effects  for  good  and  evil  were,  I  know,  more 
potentially  illustrated  in  my  own  case  than  any  other 
that  I  could  have  cited. 

The  w  life  transfer  "  which  the  fanaticism  of  affection, 
unlighted  by  the  knowledge  of  immortality,  induced, 
and  the  absolute,  personal  obsession  of  a  human  body 
by  a  foreign  spirit,  are  items  of  such  a  rare  and  excep- 
tional character,  that  I  have  ventured  far  out  of  the 
track  which  I  had  laid  down  for  myself  in  dealing  with 
the  world  when  I  communicate  them.  Even  now,  whilst 
I  am  writing  these  peculiar  experiences,  and  tearing 
open  unhealed  wounds  for  the  guidance  of  future  ex- 
plorers, I  can  see  with  prophetic  clairvoyance  the  curl 
of  many  a  scornful  lip  over  my  narrative;  rude  disbe- 
lief and  reckless  denial,  some  doubt  and  still  less 
acceptance, — -acceptance  from  those  who  know  the 
writer  and  his  unflinching  fidelity  to  truth,  acceptance 
from  some  few  others  who  will  remember  passages 
of  kindred  marvel  in  their  own  history:  these  will 
make  up  the  different  phases  of  mind  that  are  des- 


GHOST  LAND.  315 

tined  to  speculate  over  a  testimony  so  painful  to  give, 
so  shocking  to  see  trampled  beneath  the  feet  of  coarse, 
unspiritual  misunderstanding.  Yet  I  did  not  dare 
grieve  the  Paraclete  of  life,  who  makes  me  and  all 
creatures  that  have  a  truth  to  tell,  his  messengers,  by 
withholding  my  strange  experiences.  From  this  point, 
however,  I  have  but  little  more  to  write  of  myself 
except  as  an  instrument  for  illustrating  the  truths  my 
life  conserves.  Henceforth  I  shall  write  only  of  that 
ghost  land  which  I  shall  soon  enter,  and  to  whose  stern 
inquisition  I  shall  have  to  account  for  every  talent 
committed  to  my  charge.  Heaven  help  me  to  answer, 
w  I  have  done  thy  bidding." 

Looking  back  upon  a  single  life,  or  the  life  of  the 
race  as  revealed  by  ethnological  science,  we  cannot 
perceive  a  foot  of  land  trodden  by  humanity  without  a 
circle  of  luminous  haze  encompassing  it.  This  haze  is 
not  the  reflection  of  a  dark  body  intercepting  the  rays 
of  light,  but  is  a  light  per  se,  a  radiance  which  proceeds 
from  some  luminous  body,  a  beam  cast  from  some  world 
or  inhabitant  of  a  world  in  which  the  ordinary  rule  of 
lights  and  shadows  is  reversed.  History,  tradition, 
prose  and  poetry,  religion  and  even  stern  dogmatic  sci- 
ence itself,  all  unite  to  record  the  fact  of  these  luminous 
interventions  pervading  human  history;  and  as  we  can 
no  more  have  an  idea  without  a  name,  or  a  name  without 
some  idea  of  which  it  is  the  signification,  so  we  have 
given  to  the  ideas  which  these  world- wide,  ages-long, 
luminous  interventions  suggest,  the  names  of  magic, 
religion,  supernaturalism,  and  spiritism. 

The  last  is  the  only  truly  comprehensive  term  that  has 
ever  been  applied  in  this  direction,  for  magic  is  the  sci- 
ence by  which  spiritism  can  be  reduced  to  an  art  and  has 
been  peculiar  to  a  few  epochs  of  time,  whilst  it  is  meas- 


316  GHOST  LAND. 

urably  lost  in  others ;  religion  signifies  only  the  ideas 
which  a  special  people  entertain  on  this  universal  realm 
of  luminosity;  supernaturalism  implies  something  out- 
side of  nature,  which  this  thing  is  not:  hence,  spirit- 
ism alone  defines  what  it  is,  because  spiritism  implies 
the  science  of  spirit,  which  is  what  we  claim  for  the 
phenomena  under  consideration.  Spiritualism  applies  to 
a  condition  of  mind  and  refers  to  spiritually-minded 
people ;  hence,  to  my  apprehension,  the  word  "  spiritual- 
ism" though  much  more  commonly  used  in  this  connec- 
tion, is  a  misnomer.  Spiritism,  or  the  science  of  spirit, 
can  exist  without  spiritists  being  spiritual;  hence  when 
I  write  of  the  science  which  treats  of  spirits,  I  ask  my 
readers  to  understand  me  in  the  term  spiritism.  Heaven 
speed  the  day  when  all  spiritists  may  merit  the  cogno- 
men of  spiritualists  now  so  much  abused  and  perverted ! 

Spiritism  alone  can  explain  the  phenomena  of  life  and 
death,  as  well  as  all  the  extra-mundane  sounds,  sights, 
monitions,  antipathies,  and  attractions  which  are  not 
explicable  on  human  hypotheses,  but  which  have  accom- 
panied the  race  in  all  time,  varying  in  character  and 
proportion  at  different  periods  and  also  under  different 
external  influences. 

The  intense  eagerness  with  which  the  archives  of 
the  past  have  been  ransacked  leaves  this  age  in  very 
wide-spread  enjoyment  of  the  most  popular  spiritualis- 
tic testimony,  ancient,  classical,  mediaeval,  and  modern, 
concerning  the  nature  of  apparitions,  spiritual  powers, 
gifts,  and  forces.  It  might  with  justice  be  asked  what 
any  fresh  writer  can  have  to  say  on  subjects  so  exhaus- 
tively considered  already,  and  almost  the  first  criticism 
which  now  greets  the  issue  of  a  new  spiritualistic  work 
is,  "Pshaw!  there  is  nothing  new  here.  I  have  known 
and  seen  all  that  before."  In  some  instances,  especially 


GHOST  LAND.  317 

in  my  own  life  experiences,  there  may  be  this  variation 
in  the  popular  cry:  "Pshaw!  that  cannot  be  true,  be- 
cause I  have  not  seen  it  all  before."  But  for  both  classes 
of  readers  there  exists  a  necessity,  which  is,  that  we 
should  become  more  exact  in  defining,  cataloguing,  and 
labelling  the  truths  we  have,  and  placing  them  in  more 
appropriate  niches  than  the  memory  or  disjointed  entries 
of  any  single  generation  can  afford;  hence  my  present 
task.  Follow  me  who  will,  in  my  attempts  to  execute  it. 
Evidently,  to  me,  spiritual  existence  is  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  of  being.  Matter  is  only  one  of  the  forms 
in  which  spiritual  existence  becomes  demonstrated; 
perhaps  I  should  more  correctly  say,  it  is  the  formative 
element  through  which  spirit  becomes  individualized,* 
but  as  whole  libraries  of  theories  are  now  before  the 
world  on  these  subjects,  and  every  theory  is  supported 
by  lists  of  authorities,  whose  very  names  alone  would 
fill  volumes,  let  me  confine  my  basic  statements  to  the 
present  moment,  and  sum  up  what  my  researches  have 
revealed  to  me  in  the  to-day,  and  that  without  attempt- 
ing to  erect  my  column  of  belief  upon  the  foundation 
of  other  men's  opinions.  My  facts,  and  the  facts  open 
to  all  industrious  explorers,  have  shown  me  that  the 
universe  visible  to  man  is  vitalized  and  permeated  with 
animated  beings,  which  correspond  in  all  degrees  and 
grades  of  existence  to  the  varieties  of  matter,  from  the 
lowest  inorganic  atom — if  such  a  finality  as  an  atom 
exists — to  the  most  perfected  of  organisms,  which  are 
GLOBES  in  space,  every  one  of  which  I  believe  to  be  as 
much  a  living  creature  as  man  himself  is.  The  link  of 
connection  between  spirit  and  matter  is  force,  and  the 

*For  a  full  analysis  of  the  order  of  being,  a  definition  of  God,  the 
scheme  of  creation,  the  nature  of  spirit  forces,  the  fall  of  man  or  spirit, 
the  origin,  progress,  and  destiny  of  soul,  etc.,  read  the  first  part  and  ear- 
lier sections  of  the  author's  work  on  "  Art  Magic."  — ED.  GHOST  LAND. 


318  GHOST  LAND. 

exhibition  of  force  is  motion  in  all  its  infinite  varieties. 
To  sum  up  briefly  the  order  of  existence  as  it  has  been 
shown  to  me,  I  commence  with  realms  of  pure  spiritual 
life,  endless  in  number,  infinite  in  extent,  where  spiritual 
essences  dwell,  —  beings  without  passions,  vices,  or 
virtues,  the  Adams  and  Eves  of  inconceivable  para- 
dises, whose  genius  is  INNOCENCE.  Incapable  of 
growth  or  progress  until  they  have  become  mcarnalecr" 
in  matter  and  individualized  by  experience,  these 
spiritual  essences  are  attracted  to  material  earths, 
where  they  become  the  germ-seed  of  human  souls  by 
running  an  embryotic  race  through  the  elements  and 
all  the  different  grades  of  matter. 

Thus  the  seed  of  soul  existence  is  planted  in  that 
diffused  state  of  matter  known  as  gas  or  air;  in  that 
condition  of  combustion  known  as  fire;  in  the  fluidic 
state  recognized  as  water;  in  the  solids  called  generi- 
cally  the  earth.  It  also  assimilates  to  the  separate  parts 
of  earth,  such  as  rocks,  stones,  crystals,  gems,  plants, 
herbs,  flowers,  trees,  and  all  the  grades  of  the  animal 
kingdom;  in  short,  through  all  tonal  varieties  of  nature. 
In  these  successive  states  spirits  are  born  through  the 
mould  of  a  rudimental  form  of  matter;  they  grow,  die, 
become  spirits,  are  again  attracted  to  earths,  where  they 
are  incarnated,  by  virtue  of  a  previous  progress,  into 
a  higher  state  of  being  than  they  formerly  occupied. 
Their  bodies  are  composed  of  matter,  it  is  true,  but 
matter  in  conditions  so  embryotic  and  unparticled  as  to 
be  invisible  to  mortal  eyes,  except  through  occasional 
clairvoyance;  and  yet  they  occupy  space,  and  live  in 
grades  of  being  appropriate  to  their  stage  of  progress. 

These  grades  of  being  are  realms  which  inhere  in 
matter,  permeating  its  every  space  and  particle ;  in  fact, 
the  life  of  the  ELEMENTARLES,  as  these  embryotic  spirits 


GHOST  LAND.  319 

are  called,  is  the  life  principle  of  matter,  the  cause  of 
motion,  and  that  FORCE  which  scientists  affirm  to  be 
an  attribute  of  matter.  In  hundreds  of  clairvoyant 
visits  made  by  my  spirit  to  the  country  of  the  elemen- 
taries,  it  was  given  me  to  perceive  that  their  collective 
life  principle,  that  which  clothes  their  spirits,  and  forms 
their  rudimental  bodies,  is  in  the  aggregate  the  life 
principle  of  the  earth  and  all  that  composes  it,  or  that 
mysterious  realm  of  FORCE,  which,  as  above  stated,  is 
erroneously  supposed  to  be  a  mere  attribute  of  matter. 
Again  and  again  it  has  been  shown  me  how  the  germ 
of  soul,  through  an  infinite  succession  of  births,  lives, 
deaths,  and  incarnations  in  elementary  existence,  at  last 
attains  to  that  final  spiritual  state  from  whence  it  becomes 
for  the  last  time  attracted  to  matter,  and  is  born  into  the 
climax  of  material  existence,  MANHOOD.  The  progress 
of  spirit  through  the  conditions  of  elementary  being 
has  been  explained  to  me  as  correspondential  to  the 
subsequent  embryotic  periods  of  human  gestation.  As 
an  elementary  it  progresses  through  the  matrix  of 
nature.  As  a  human  being  it  is  subject  to  a  much 
shorter  but  perfectly  analogous  progress  through  the 
matrix  of  human  maternity.  The  one  is  necessary  to 
the  growth  and  individualization  of  an  immortal  spirit; 
the  other  to  the  growth  and  individualization  of  a 
mortal  body,  in  which  the  spirit's  final  career  through 
matter  is  effected.  The  two  states  are  so  perfectly 
analogous  that  when,  after  some  years  of  clairvoyant 
practices  amongst  the  Berlin  Brotherhood,  Professor 
von  Marx  subjected  me  to  a  course  of  study  in  anatomy 
and  medicine,  I  was  enabled  to  point  out  to  him  in  the 
different  stages  of  growth  attained  by  the  human  foetus, 
the  most  perfect  analogies  with  similar  stages  of  being 
amongst  the  elementaries. 


320  GHOST  LAND. 

The  moment  the  pilgrim  spirit  has  passed  through 
the  embryotic  life  of  human  maternity,  its  incarnations 
through  matter  are  accomplished,  and  it  is  born  on 
earth  with  the  new  function  of  SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS,  or 
I  should  more  properly  say,  CONSCIOUS  INDIVIDUALITY. 
Let  it  ever  be  remembered  that  there  is  no  realization 
known  to  man  of  the  awkward  and  impossible  word 
"annihilation."  No  particle  of  matter,  no  function  of 
being  can  become  the  subject  of  annihilation.  Self-con- 
sciousness is  the  function  of  the  human  soul,  and  individ- 
uality is  the  result  of  self-consciousness.  Can  this 
individuality  be  lost,  this  self-consciousness  be  eveF 
quenched?  Impossible!  Quoting  froin  a  lecture  by 
Emma  Hardinge  Britten  on  this  subject,  I  re-echo  her 
unanswerable  argument  for  immortality, — ay,  ETERNAL 
being,  —  when  she  says,  w  Could  you  alter,  change,  or 
impinge  upon  that  individualism  which  enables  each 
human  being  to  say  I  AM,  you  find  annihilation;  for 
self-consciousness  is  individuality,  and  individuality  is 
the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  human  life ;  so  when 
man  has  attained  individuality  he  has  attained  immor- 
tality, for  you  can  no  more  annihilate  a  function  than 
you  can  an  atom." 

After  the  death  of  the  mortal  body  the  soul  commences 
a  fresh  series  of  pilgrimages,  starting  from  the  exact 
grade  of  progress  it  has  attained  through  its  incarnations 
in  matter;  but  its  progress  now  is  as  a  spirit,  with  the 
memory,  individuality,  and  identity  it  has  gained  in  its 
incarnations  through  the  rudimental  states  of  matter. 
Born  at  last  as  a  soul,  its  new  states  or  series  of  pro- 
gressions commence  in  the  spirit  spheres,  where  every 
grade  of  spiritual  unfoldment  and  future  progress  is 
amply  provided  for. 

To  my  dim  apprehension,  and  in  view  of  my  long  years 


GHOST  LAND.  321 

of  wandering  through  spirit  spheres,  where  teaching 
spirits  and  blessed  angels  guided  my  soul's  ardent 
explorations,  this  brief  summary  of  our  pre-existent 
states  explains  all  that  the  reincarnationists  have  labored 
so  sedulously  to  theorize  upon.  I  dare  not  touch  those 
theories  with  the  pen  of  satire  or  rude  denial,  for  those 
who  urge  them  command  my  deep  respect  for  their  sin- 
cerity, humanity,  and  love  of  justice;  but  whilst  the 
scheme  thus  opened  up  to  me  explained  my  soul's  origin, 
the  universal  and  reiterated  assurances  of  myriads  of 
spirits  in  every  stage  of  a  progressive  beyond,  convinced 
me  there  was  no  return  to  mortal  birth,  no  retrogression 
in  the  scale  of  cosmic  being,  as  a  return  to  material  incar- 
nations would  undoubtedly  be,  and  that  all  the  demands 
of  progress,  justice,  and  advancement  are  supplied  by 
the  opportunties  afforded  the  soul  in  the  spheres  of  spir- 
itual existence. 

In  my  boyhood's  years  I  had  been  taught  to  regard 
spirit  as  the  Alpha  only,  not  the  Omega;  taught  that  it 
was  infinite  and  eternal  in  essence,  but  not  in  individ- 
uality; that  it  lived  forever,  progressed  forever,  but  only 
on  the  earth :  hence,  the  miserably  narrow,  almost  infan- 
tile theories  of  materialistic  science,  to  wit,  limiting  life, 
the  great  glorious,  and  eternal  boon  of  immortal  life, 
to  a  mere  speck  in  infinity;  to  the  sand-grain  of  time 
of  which  an  earthly  life  is  made  up,  and  to  the  shadowy, 
vague,  and  transitory  organism  of  matter!  With  what 
different  views  of  human  destiny  have  I  lived  since  I 
became  a  spiritist!  Night  after  night,  whilst  my  body 
was  sleeping  on  the  cold  dungeon  floors  of  my  prison 
at  P-  — ,  where  I  spent  nearly  a  year;  or,  as  I  lay  for 
many  a  dreary  hour  on  the  battle-field  amidst  the  dead 
and  dying,  waiting  for  some  trampling  steed  to  crush 
me  out  of  life,  or  some  assassin's  miserecorde  to  put  an 


322  GHOST  LAND. 

end  to  raging  thirst  and  intolerable  pain,  spirit  friends 
have  come  and  waved  their  kind,  white  hands  over 
me,  liberated  my  struggling  spirit,  laid  my  weary 
form  to  peaceful  rest,  and  carried  me  through  space 
in  every  realm  of  spiritual  existence  to  which  a  frail 
and  sinful  human  soul  could  attain,  until  I  have  stood 
on  the  threshold  of  glorious  lands,  where  my  eyes 
could  perceive  the  radiance  of  celestial  spheres,  the 
memory  of  whose  brightness  will  warn  and  beckon  me 
upwards  forever. 


CHAPTEE  XYIIL 

THE   ASTGEL   OF   MIDNIGHT. 

FOR  several  years  after  my  departure  from  England, 
I  became  a  traveller  through  various  countries  of  the 
East,  and  for  the  most  part  was  engaged,  as  stated  in  a 
former  chapter,  in  the  busy  and  exigeant  cares  of  active 
public  life.  Few  who  remember  the  dreamy  somnambu- 
list of  the  Berlin  Brotherhood  would  have  recognized 
in  him  the  stern  soldier,  earnest  statesman,  and  ener- 
getic worker  in  many  directions.  As  I  considered  the 
numerous  spheres  of  activity  in  which  I  seemed  destined 
to  become  immersed,  I  could  not  but  think  that  Felix  von 
Marx  had  kept  his  word;  that  he  had  indeed  died  to  add 
his  noble  manhood  to  my  constitutional  weakness,  and 
that  I  must  be  indebted  to  the  influence  of  his  towering 
spirit  for  the  capacity  to  achieve  an  amount  of  physical 
and  intellectual  labor  under  which  many  a  more  vigorous 
physique  would  have  sunk.  But  although  I  never 
allowed  myself  even  to  pause  in  the  career  of  urgent 
life-work  I  was  pressed  into,  neither  did  I  lose  sight 
of  the  one  great  end  and  aim  of  my  earthly  pilgrimage, 
which  ever  has  been  to  obtain  positive  knowledge  on 
the  mystery  of  the  unseen  universe.  I  had  lived  to 
be  assured  there  were  many  phases  of  spiritual  life 
open  to  the  understanding  of  man  besides  those  which 
formed  the  subject  of  study  and  practice  amongst 
the  Berlin  Brotherhood.  During  my  residence  with 


324  GHOST  LAND. 

my  esteemed  friend,  John  Dudley,  I  knew  that  his 
pure  and  innocent  family  delighted  themselves  in  the 
sweet  intercourse  they  maintained  with  their  spirit 
friends.  I  never  joined  their  happy  seances,  nor 
sought  to  impose  my  restless  nature  and  troubled 
moods  upon  their  harmonious  gatherings;  but  I  often 
hovered  around  them  in  spirit,  and  from  thence,  as  well 
as  in  many  less  holy  scenes,  have  learned  the  methods 
of  communing  with  spirits,  through  the  simple  tele- 
graphy induced  by  automatic  passivity  in  what  is  called 
spirit  mediumship. 

I  knew  too,  that  without  circles,  invocations,  or  for- 
mulae of  any  kind,  my  own  beloved  friends  could  reach 
me  from  the  far  side  of  that  mystic  river,  on  the  shores 
of  which  they  had  disappeared  from  my  straining  eyes, 
but  from  whence  they  have  all  returned,  one  after  the 
other,  keeping  watch  and  ward  over  my  stormy  life, 
with  even  more  than  the  fidelity  of  their  earthly  care 
and  tenderness. 

/xlie  beautiful  and  gracious  Constance,  my  brave 
father,  my  fair  and  gentle  mother,  my  young  brother, 
and  many  kind  friends  and  companions  who  had  fallen 
in  their  tracks,  leaving  me  alone  ere  I  knew  the 
strength  as  well  as  the  weakness  of  an  isolated  man- 
hood, —  all,  all  have  come  back  to  me,  speaking  in  the 
tones  of  old,  and  hovering  around  my  footsteps  like 
beams  of  sunlight  as  they  are  ;  making  me  realize 
the  full  meaning  of  the  sublime  words,  w  the  ministry 
'  of  angels."/  Felix  von  Marx,  too, — he,  the  very  pulse- 
beat  of  my  heart,  he  has  never  left  me,  never  failed  me. 
In  experiences  nearer,  dearer,  and  more  sacred  than  any 
besides,  he  has  still  continued  to  pour  out  upon  me  that 
deep,  unselfish  love,  which  inspired  in  him  the  wild 
desire  to  give  his  life  for  me. 


GHOST  LAND.  325 

And  yet  who  will  sympathize  with  or  understand  me, 
when  I  own  that  the  apparitions  of  these  precious  be- 
ings, with  all  their  varied  and  ingenious  methods  of 
unsought,  uninvoked  telegraphy,  could  not  always  sat- 
isfy or  convince  me  of  my  own  soul's  immortality,  or 
their  continued  identity  beyond  a  brief  span  of  evanes- 
cent spiritual  existence,  a  transitory  state  in  which  that 
identity  might  be  preserved  for  a  while,  to  be  engulfed, 
swallowed  up,  cancelled  again,  by  the  horrible  necessity 
of  running  the  rounds  of  never-ending,  material  exist- 
ences. I  apologized  to  myself  and  to  my  beloved  com- 
forters for  these  morbid  fantasies,  —  fantasies  which 
fled  like  the  shadows  of  night  before  the  sunlight  of 
their  glorious  presence,  and  yet  returned  again  and 
again  to  haunt  me  when  my  feverish  spirit  was  left  to 
prey  upon  itself.  That  for  which  my  soul  hungered, 
was  a  grander,  broader  perception  of  the  divine  scheme 
than  I  could  realize  from  the  spheres  of  being  abso- 
lutely known  to  us.  I  longed  for  a  philosophy  of  life 
here  and  hereafter,  to  perceive  the  finger  of  Deity 
pointing  to  the  beyond,  beyond  the  grave,  beyond  the 
origin  and  ultimate  of  a  single  life,  and  I  would  far 
rather  have  been  assured  I  should  soon  "  sleep  the  sleep 
that  knows  no  waking,"  than  to  be  tossed  thus  rest- 
lessly on  an  ocean  of  speculation  without  compass,  rud- 
der, pilot,  or  anchor. 

Sometimes  I  saw,  felt,  and  encountered,  face  to  face, 
my  own  "atmospheric  spirit."  I  realized  no  loss  of 
physical  strength  from  this  mysterious  manifestation  of 
duality,  but  it  never  occurred  without  impressing  me 
with  an  unaccountable  sense  of  awe,  I  might  almost  add, 
a  nameless  fear,  which  caused  me  to  shrink  away  from 
this  presence  as  if  I  were  facing  my  worst  enemy. 
Sometimes  this  hateful  vision  addressed  me,  using  the 


326  GHOST  LAND. 

language  of  rebuke,  scorn,  and  irony,  and  commenting 
upon  its  relationship  to  me,  like  a  mocking  fiend,  rather 
than  the  astral  essence  of  my  own  spiritual  body. 

The  spirits  of  those  I  most  loved  and  could  have 
trusted,  conversed  with  me  and  often  manifested  intelli- 
gence foreign  to  my  own  consciousness,  and  such  as 
proved  the  identity  of  the  special  individuals  who  ren- 
dered it;  but  that  which  they  communicated  failed  to 
elucidate  the  mysteries  by  which  I  was  surrounded. 

Although  they  were  constantly  demonstrating  by  a 
thousand  ingenious  modes  the  fact  that  a  foreign  intel- 
ligence addressed  me  and  a  halo  of  unceasing  love  and 
watchfulness  surrounded  me,  their  revelations  in  other 
respects  were  slight  and  inconsequential,  consisting  for 
the  most  part  of  petty  items  of  information,  monitions, 
warnings,  and  prophecies,  all  of  which  I  soon  found  to 
be  true;  yet  beyond  these  and  other  small  platitudes 
there  seemed  to  be  no  common  ground  of  ideality 
between  us. 

I  longed,  oh,  how  passionately  I  longed  for  something 
higher !  but  when  I  pressed  home  my  urgent  pleadings 
for  light  upon  my  spiritual  visitants,  an  unaccountable 
weariness  possessed  me,  and  compelled  me  to  suspend 
an  intercourse  which  seemed  impossible  to  maintain  and 
live.  Sometimes  the  terrible  theory  of  the  Berlin  Broth- 
erhood recurred  to  me,  and  I  would  be  almost  disposed 
to  believe,  with  them,  that  these  apparitions  were  in  re- 
ality nothing  more  than  "astral  spirits"  exhaled  from  the 
material  casket  in  death,  but  that  the  soul  was,  like  the 
body,  dissipated  into  the  elements,  or  else  was  taken 
up  again  in  fresh  forms  with  which  its  past  existence 
maintained  no  sympathetic  relations.  Let  me  add  at  once 
that  these  vague  and  most  miserable  theories  were  sure 
to  be  refuted  almost  as  soon  as  formed,  for  some  blessed 


GHOST  LAND.  327 

messenger  from  the  life  beyond  would  present  itself 
immediately,  and  after  proving  how  completely  my 
thoughts  had  been  scanned,  give  me  slight  but  deeply 
significant  tokens,  connecting  them  with  the  continued 
life,  individuality,  and  personal  ministry  of  my  angel 
visitant,  and  leaving  me,  for  the  time  being,  firmly  fixed 
in  the  assurance  of  immortal  life  and  love  beyond  the 
confines  of  the  grave.  Besides  the  various  societies  for 
the  study  of  occultism  to  which  I  belonged  in  Europe, 
I  became  affiliated  with  many  others  during  my  wan- 
derings through  the  East. 

Like  most  persons  interested  in  the  occult  side  of 
nature,  I  had  no  sooner  returned  to  India,  where  indeed, 
my  earliest  days  of  childhood  had  been  passed,  than  I 
became  fascinated  with  the  extraordinary  and  preter- 
natural powers  displayed  by  Oriental  ecstatics.  Had  I 
published  these  pages  ten  or  twenty  years  ago  I  might 
have  acceptably  filled  a  volume  with  a  record  of  the 
marvels  I  witnessed.  As  it  is,  every  cheap  periodical 
has  become  so  redolent  of  East  Indian  magic  that  the 
gamin  who  polishes  your  boots  in  the  streets  of  Paris 
or  London,  will  tell  you  half-a-dozen  snake-charming 
stories  in  as  many  minutes;  the  smirking  damsel  who 
hands  you  a  light  for  your  cigar  will  recite  to  you  more 
tales  of  exhumed  fakirs  than  she  can  count  havannas 
in  her  show-case;  and  the  frizeur  who  trims  your  beard 
will  descant  upon  the  facility  with  which  dervishes  can 
cut  off  heads  and  put  them  on  again,  how  mango-trees 
can  be  grown  in  a  given  number  of  seconds,  or  thieves 
discovered  by  self-locomotive  cups  and  balls.  The  pub- 
lic mind  in  Europe  has  been  filled  ad  nauseum  with 
such  wonders;  but  whilst  listening  to  details  which  I 
have  myself  beheld  enacted  with  ever-deepening  interest, 
taken  part  in,  and  spent  years  in  searching  out  the  pro- 


328  GHOST  LAND. 

ducing  causes  of,  I  do  not  find  this  same  glib-tongued, 
popular  voice  of  rumor  giving  any  philosophical  expla- 
nation of  how  these  phenomena  occur.*  Of  course  we 
must  acknowledge  that  their  only  importance  is  derived 
from  the  fact  that  their  causation  is  occult,  and  tran- 
scends the  power  of  the  most  enlightened  scientists  to 
explain.  Even  when  referred  to  legerdemain  as  the 
easiest  way  of  disposing  of  a  problem  which  science  is 
too  ignorant  to  master  and  too  proud  to  study  out,  I  do 
not  find  the  marvels  of  Oriental  spiritism  reproduced 
on  any  other  soil,  and  as  I  know  they  are  in  many 
instances,  at  least,  indications  of  the  occult  forces  in 
nature,  it  may  not  be  wholly  uninteresting  to  touch 
upon  the  methods  which  I  myself  adopted  to  master 
the  secret  of  their  production. 

My  first  step  was  to  secure  the  services  of  two  of  the 
most  accomplished  as  well  as  respectable  members  of 
the  fakir  fraternity,  and  having  taken  all  the  available 
means  at  command  to  attach  them  to  my  interest,  not 
forgetting  to  separate  them  from  each  other,  so  as  to 
avoid  the  possibility  of  collusion  or  a  systematic  attempt 
to  deceive  me,  I  had  opportunity  enough  to  observe  many 
of  the  most  astounding  evidences  of  the  power  these  men 
possessed,  as  well  as  to  analyze  at  leisure  their  claims  for 
its  origin.  In  each  case,  as  well  as  in  numerous  others, 
where  incredible  feats  of  preternatural  wonder  were  ex- 
hibited, the  fakirs  assured  me  the  pitris,  or  ancestral 
spirits,  were  the  invisible  wonder-workers. f 

Again  and  again  they  protested  they  could  do  nothing 
without  the  aid  of  these  spiritual  allies.  Their  own 
agency  in  the  work,  they  gave  me  to  understand,  con- 
sisted in  preparing  themselves  for  the  service  of  the 

*See  "  Art  Magic,"  sections  11, 12,  and  13. —  ED.  GHOST  LAND. 
flbid. 


GHOST  LAND.  329 

pitris.  They  alleged  that  the  material  body  was  only  a 
vehicle  for  the  invisible  soul,  the  spiritual  or  astral  cloth- 
ing of  which  was  an  element  evidently  analogous  to  the 
"spiritual  body"  of  the  apostle  Paul,  the  "magnetic 
body"  or  "life  principle"  of  the  spiritists,  the  "astral 
spirit"  of  the  Rosicrucians,  and  the  "atmospheric  spirit" 
of  the  Berlin  Brotherhood.  This  element  the  Hindoo 
and  Arabian  ecstatics  termed  AGASA,  or  the  life-fluid. 
They  said  that  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  and  potency 
of  agasa  in  the  system,  so  was  the  power  to  work  marvels 
by  the  aid  of  spirits.  Spirits,  they  added,  used  agasa 
as  their  means  of  coming  in  contact  with  matter,  and 
when  it  was  abundant  and  very  powerful,  the  invisibles 
could  draw  it  from  the  bodies  of  the  ecstatics  and  per- 
form with  it  feats  only  possible  to  themselves  and  the 
gods.  "Mutilate  the  body,  lop  off  the  limbs,  if  you 
will,"  said  a  Brahmin,  whom  I  had  also  enlisted  in  my 
service  as  a  teacher  of  occultism,  "and  with  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  agasa,  you  can  instantaneously  heal 
the  wound.  Agasa  is  the  element  which  keeps  the 
atoms  of  matter  together;  the  knife  or  sword  severs  it, 
the  fire  expels  it  from  its  lodgement  in  those  atoms; 
put  the  agasa  back  to  the  severed  or  burned  parts 
before  they  have  had  time  to  fester  or  wither,  and  the 
parts  must  reunite  and  become  whole  as  before." 

It  is  by  virtue  of  agasa  that  the  seed  germinates  in 
the  ground  and  grows  up  to  be  a  tree,  with  leaves,  fruit, 
and  flowers.  Pour  streams  of  agasa  on  the  seed,  and 
you  quicken  in  a  minute  what  would  else,  with  less  of 
the  life-fluid,  occupy  a  month  to  grow.  Charge  stones 
or  other  inanimate  objects  with  agasa  drawn  from  a 
human  body,  and  spirits  can  make  such  objects  move, 
fly,  swim,  or  travel  hither  and  thither  at  will;  in  short, 
it  is  through  the  power  of  agasa, — by  which  I  mean 


330  GHOST  LAND. 

FORCE,  the  LIFE  of  things, — that  all  the  most  intelligent 
Hindoos  with  whom  I  studied,  insisted  that  preternatural 
marvels  could  be  wrought,  always  adding,  however,  that 
pitris  must  assist  in  the  operation,  first,  because  their 
spiritual  bodies  were  all  agasa,  and  next,  because  they 
had  a  knowledge  of  this  great  living  force  and  how  to 
apply  it,  which  they  could  not  communicate  to  mortals. 

The  methods  of  initiation  into  these  wonder-working 
powers  were,  I  was  assured,  asceticism,  chastity,  fre- 
quent ablutions,  long  fasts,  seasons  of  profound  abstrac- 
tion, a  spirit  exalted  to  the  contemplation  of  deity,  heaven 
and  heavenly  things,  and  a  mind  wholly  sublimated  from 
earth  and  earthly  things.  By  these  processes,  it  was 
claimed,  the  body  would  become  subdued  and  the  quan- 
tity of  agasa  communicated  through  the  elements  and 
by  favor  of  the  gods,  would  be  immensely  increased. 
It  would  also  be  more  readily  liberated,  and  under  the 
control  of  spiritual  agencies. 

' "  Behold  me !  "  cried  one  of  my  instructors  on  a  certain 
occasion.  "  I  am  all  agasa.  This  thin  film  of  matter 
wherewith  I  am  covered,  these  meshes  of  bone  that  form 
my  framework  of  life,  are  they  not  fined  away  to  the 
tenuity  of  the  elements?  They  hinder  not  my  flight 
through  space,  neither  can  they  bind  me  to  the  earth  I 
am  casting  off." 

He  proved  the  truth  of  his  boast  by  springing  upwards 
from  the  ground  which  he  spurned  with  his  foot,  when 
lo !  he  ascended  into  mid-air,  and  whilst  his  entranced 
eyes  were  rolled  upwards,  and  his  lean,  rigid  arms  and 
thin  hands  were  clasped  in  ecstasy  above,  his  head,  he 
continued  to  soar  away  nearly  to  the  roof  of  the  vast 
temple  in  which  we  were.  I  have  already  alluded 
in  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  work  to  the  methods  by 
which  many  Eastern  ecstatics  promoted  the  "mantic 


GHOST  LAND.  331 

frenzy,"  such  as  leaping,  dancing,  whirling,  spinning, 
the  use  of  drugs  and  vapors  of  an  intoxicating  character, 
noise,  music,  and  all  other  methods  which  might  tend  to 
distract  the  senses  and  stimulate  the  mind  to  temporary 
mania. 

Another  and  very  general  mode  of  wonder-working 
amongst  Eastern  ecstatics  is  by  illusion,  a  word  which 
but  ill  expresses  the  extent  of  the  psychological  impres- 
sion which  a  powerful  adept  can  produce  upon  a  num- 
ber of  persons  at  one  time.  It  is  almost  impossible  to 
describe  the  methods  by  which  this  haze,  hallucination, 
or  enchantment  can  be  spread  over  a  whole  assembly, 
compelling  them  to  see  the  chief  operator  in  an  illusory 
light,  and  imagine  he  is  visible  or  invisible,  or  perform- 
ing wholly  impossible  actions  with  wholly  impossible 
instruments,  just  as  he  wills  the  spectators  to  believe. 
Those  who  are  most  successful  in  this  species  of  illu- 
sion are  not  only  "?  mediums  "  for  spirits,  and  powerful 
psychologists,  but  they  have  a  faculty  of  so  enclosing 
themselves  in  agasa  (spiritual  atmosphere)  that  they  can 
present  almost  any  illusory  appearance  they  please. 

By  way  of  experiment,  some  of  the  best  practitioners 
of  this  singular  species  of  enchantment  have,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  magnetized  me,  —  I  use  this  modern 
phrase  for  the  sake  of  being  better  understood, — that 
is  to  say,  they  have  whirled,  spun,  and  danced  around 
me,  pointing  their  lean  fingers  the  whole  time  towards 
me,  until,  when  they  left  me,  giddy,  speechless,  and 
fixed,  yet  fully  conscious  of  my  curious  situation,  I 
have  seen  several  persons  pass  without  perceiving  me, 
and  when  invited  by  the  fakirs  to  describe  my  appear- 
ance, the  strangers  they  addressed  have  stoutly  affirmed 
there  was  no  visible  object  on  the  spot  of  ground 
where  I  stood.  Again,  on  some  occasions,  these  men 


332  GHOST  LAND. 

have  not  only  clothed  me,  but  other  persons,  with  this 
atmosphere  of  invisibility.  They  have  also  caused  an 
immense  assemblage  gathered  together  in  one  of  the 
temples  of  Siva,  at  Benares,  to  see  tigers,  lions,  and 
other  terrific  sights,  when  there  was  positively  no  such 
objects  at  the  spot  indicated.  To  perform  these  acts  of 
illusion  successfully,  the  operator  must  be  a  good  psy- 
chologist, surround  himself  with  powerful  bands  of 
spirits,  prepare  his  body  by  a  long  fast,  excite  the  man- 
tic  frenzy  by  pungent  essences  and  anointings,  and  thus 
accumulate  that  powerful  charge  of  agasa  which  will 
enable  his  spirit  band  to  work  through  him  as  their 
human  instrument.  When  I  add  that  the  natives  of  the 
East,  with  their  slender,  lithe  forms,  and  natural  taste 
for  such  exercises,  delight  to  practise  the  arts  of  leger- 
demain, until  they  arrive  at  a  degree  of  skill  wholly 
unknown  to  the  people  of  other  lands,  I  believe  I  have 
presented  to  the  curious  reader  the  rationale  of  all  the 
methods  in  which  Oriental  marvels  are  performed. 

Let  us  not  mistake  or  confound,  however,  the  acts 
of  the  professed  juggler  with  those  of  the  religious 
ecstatic.  The  two  classes  are  not  only  distinct  in  their 
modes  of  performance,  but  in  their  aims  and  the  motives 
that  possess  them.  The  juggler  is  so  by  profession. 
He  is  wonderfully  skilful  in  his  art,  skilful  enough,  indeed, 
to  impress  many  an  astute  beholder  with  the  belief  that 
he  must  be  aided  by,  or  in  league  with  supermundane 
powers.  Still,  those  who,  like  myself,  will  take  the  trouble 
to  follow  his  performances  carefully  and  pay  him  suffi- 
ciently for  the  information,  will  find  that  he  is  but  a 
juggler  after  all,  and  that  his  exhibitions  are  prompted 
by  no  higher  motives  than  to  obtain  the  petty  remuner- 
ation which  his  skill  commands.  Despite  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  East  Indian  ecstatics  prostitute  their  remark- 


GHOST  LAND.  333 

able  powers  to  the  most  abject  system  of  mendicity, 
there  are  still  a  numerous  class  who  are  moved  by  far 
higher  motives,  the  culminating  point  of  their  incredi- 
ble acts  of  asceticism  and  self-inflicted  torture  being 
the  realization  of  exalted  religious  aspirations.  As  the 
most  accomplished  adepts  in  Oriental  marvels  do  not 
exhibit  their  power  for  alms,  except  in  behalf  of  the 
temple,  lamasery,  or  monastery  to  which  they  belong, 
they  do  not  migrate  into  remunerative  spheres  of  action, 
like  other  exhibitors,  and  their  arts  acquire  a  certain 
amount  of  dignity  from  their  association  with  the  rites 
of  temple  services. 

It  was  under  the  conviction  that  there  were  spiritual 
forces  involved  in  many  of  the  wonderful  phenomena  I 
witnessed,  and  that,  inconsequential  as  these  were  in  the 
results  obtained,  they  indicated  an  array  of  unexplored 
powers  yet  latent  in  human  experience,  that  I  determined 
to  devote  one  consecutive  twelve  months  and  as  much 
time  as  I  could  spare  besides,  to  the  study  of  this  sub- 
ject and  a  thorough  personal  experience  of  its  methods 
of  procedure.  It  was  with  this  view  that  I  abandoned 
my  pleasant  suburban  residence  at  Benares  and  took  up 
my  abode  with  a  company  of  devotees  in  the  gloomy 
subterranean  crypts  of  a  vast  range  of  ancient  ruins, 
where  the  spirit  of  a  grand,  antique  faith  pervaded  every 
stone  and  hallowed  the  scenes  which  were  once  conse- 
crated to  the  loftiest  and  most  exalted  inspiration.  I 
am  bound  in  honor  not  to  reveal  the  methods  of  initia- 
tion by  which  I  graduated  into  the  dignity  of  a  w  full- 
fledged  ecstatic,"  under  the  guidance  and  instruction  of 
self-devoted,  self-sacrificing  men,  who  had  themselves 
attained  to  the  mastery  of  the  mightiest  spiritual  forces. 

It  is  enough  to  say  I  became  all  asceticism;  spent 
my  time  in  the  prescribed  duties,  and  even  exceeded 


334  GHOST  LAND. 

in  rigidity  the  discipline  laid  down  for  me.  My  capa- 
city as  a  w  natural  magician,"  so  my  teachers  informed 
me,  shortened  the  term  of  my  probation  and  modified 
the  severity  of  the  exercises  enjoined,  and  amongst 
the  Buddhist  priests — with  whom  I  studied,  as  well 
as  the  Brahmins — would  have  elevated  me  to  any  rank 
in  prophetic  dignity  to  which  my  ambition  might  have 
aspired. 

Amongst  the  Brahmins,  my  lack  of  caste  excluded  me 
from  priestly  office,  but  my  superiors  entreated  me  to 
remain  with  them,  tempting  me  with  prospects  of  spir- 
itual distinction  held  out  to  very  few. 

I  need,  hardly  say  my  purpose  was  achieved  when  I 
mastered  the  secret  of  true  occult  power.  I  proved, 
tested,  tried,  and  practised  it,  and  I  KNOW  that  every 
element  in  being  can  be  made  subject  to  the  human 
soul;  every  achievement  of  spiritual  or  even  deific 
power  is  ATTAINABLE  to  man.  All  this,  and  much 
that  I  am  pledged  not  to  reveal,  and  which  in  our  pres- 
ent corrupt  and  licentious  condition  of  society,  would 
prove  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing,  and  convert  the 
earth  into  pandemonium  rather  than  heaven,  I  learned, 
proved,  tried,  and  practised.  These  experiences  were 
not  undertaken  during  the  occasion  of  my  first  visit  to 
Hiiidostan,  when  the  career  of  military  life  enjoined 
upon  me  by  rny  family  and  connections  enabled  me  to 
devote  only  a  very  limited  amount  of  time  to  such 
studies ;  my  principal  successes  in  these  directions  were 
achieved  during  a  second  and  more  recent  visit  to  the 
East,  and  I  only  anticipate  that  period  by  alluding  to 
the  results  I  obtained  in  this  chapter.  What  I  learned 
and  the  powers  I  attained  to,  however,  were  not  cheaply 
or  easily  acquired.  It  is  enough  at  present  to  declare  I 
exchanged  for  the  comforts  of  home  and  civilization,  a 


GHOST  LAND.  335 

life  of  discipline  which  would  make  most  luxurious 
Europeans  shrink  back  aghast  and  horror-struck. 

In  the  inscrutable  methods  of  Providence  which 
seem  to  work  all  things  together  for  good,  I  have  some- 
times thought  I  was  permitted,  if  not  impelled,  to  act 
out  the  desperate  attempt  at  self-destruction  induced  by 
my  frenzy  of  grief  for  the  loss  of  my  beloved  friend, 
von  Marx,  chiefly  to  prepare  me  for  the  tremendous  aus- 
terities demanded  of  me,  ere  I  could  cross  the  thresh- 
old of  humanity  and  enter  upon  "  the  life  of  the  gods," 
at  least,  in  respect  to  the  spirit's  mastery  over  the  hin- 
derances  of  matter,  f  Although,  like  most  persons  of 
w  mediumistic "  or  naturally  prophetic  tendencies,  I 
inherited  a  very  poor  constitution,  it  was  wonderful 
to  me  at  the  time,  wonderful  to  me  since  to  remember, 
with  what  .extraordinary  powers  of  endurance  I  sus- 
tained the  enormous  penalties  I  had  to  pay  for  spiritual 
light  and  prowess.  Whilst  many  other  neophytes  asso- 
ciated with  me  failed  utterly,  and  others  withdrew 
with  broken  health,  shattered  minds,  or  even  yielded  up 
life  itself  on  the  altar  of  their  vain  endeavor,  I  passed 
through  every  ordeal  like  one  upborne  in  the  arms  of 
mighty  spirits,  and  sustained  by  a  power  which  I  can 
never  attribute  to  merely  human  effort.  All  felt,  though 
I  alone  knew  individually  the  power  that  sustained  me, 
and  that  I  was  permitted  to  pass  through  such  extraor- 
dinary ordeals  simply  to  demonstrate  the  triumph  of 
spirit  over  matter,  and  the  force  by  which  the  human 
soul  can  transcend  all  the  limitations  of  time  and  space. 

From  the  first  moment  of  my  arrival  in  Hindostan,  — 
in  fact,  throughout  my  whole  career,  —  I  have  spent  my 
life  in  alternate  devotion  to  spiritual  experiences  and 
the  more  material  activities  of  such  duties  as  circum- 
stances impelled  me  to  undertake.  Notwithstanding 


336  GHOST  LAND. 

the  fact  that  I  became  immersed  in  public  life,  and  that 
of  the  most  stormy  and  exigeant  character  when  I  joined 
my  father's  connections  in  India,  just  so  long  as  health 
and  strength  permitted  I  never  relinquished  my  spiritu- 
alistic pursuits  or  researches,  nor  did  I  find  them  incom- 
patible with  the  routine  of  other  occupations.  I  was 
frequently  obliged  to  reside  in  several  of  the  large  cities 
of  Hindostan  and  the  Deccan,  besides  spending  some 
time  with  those  relations  to  whom  I  have  alluded  in  the 
commencement  of  these  sketches,  but  my  "Patmos"  was 
a  suburban  residence  near  Benares,  where  I  found  all  the 
incentives  in  surroundings  and  association  to  prosecute 
my  favorite  studies. 

Throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  India  I  ever 
encountered  undying  witnesses  to  the  fervent  faith  and 
heartfelt  devotion  with  which  the  ancient  Hindoo  cher- 
ished the  principles  of  his  religious  belief.  Every  colos- 
sal monument,  gigantic  pagoda,  or  stupendous  cave 
temple,  is  an  offering,  sanctified  by  the  heart's  best  blood 
of  adoring  millions,  to  the  fire-gods  of  antique  worship- 
pers. 

Hindostan  has  of  late  years  been  the  theme  of  such 
magnificent  word  painting  and  glowing  literary  imagery, 
that  I  forbear  from  the  attempt  to  offer  any  addition  to 
the  innumerable  accounts  already  extant  of  its  sculptures 
and  monumental  glories.  Like  the  performances  of  wron- 
der-working  fakirs  and  dervishes,  the  splendors  of  Ele- 
phanta,  Ellora,  Carli,  and  Orissa  have  become  popular 
themes  in  the  mouths  of  literary  gossips. 

From  the  learned  archaeologist  to  the  humblest  school 
child,  the  gigantic  elephants,  colossal  sphinxes,  mighty 
sculptures,  and  awful  caverns  of  this  solemn  old  land 
have  been  canvassed  in  large  and  small  talk  in  every 
country  of  civilization.  With  throbbing  heart  and  daz- 


GHOST  LAND.  337 

zled  brain  the  traveller  may  wander  beneath  the  shadows 
of  the  grim  idols,  the  darksome  caverns,  the  mighty  ban- 
yan groves  and  memory-haunted  forests,  but  the  glories 
and  wonders  of  ancient  India  have  been  so  thoroughly 
popularized  by  measuring  tourists  and  surveying  explor- 
ers that  any  well-educated  young  lady  from  a  London 
or  Paris  seminary  will  tell  you  the  exact  dimensions  of 
the  Kailasa  better  far  than  I  could  who  have  spent 
long  days  and  lonely  nights  wandering  amidst  its  superb 
colonnades  of  sphinxes  and  elephants. 

During  the  hours  which  I  devoted  to  meditation 
amidst  these  stupendous  relics  of  a  faith  which  has  ren- 
dered its  gods  immortal  by  the  miracle  of  its  own 
immortal  genius,  it  was  not  on  measurements  or  styles 
that  my  mind  brooded.  I  longed  to  pierce  the  mystery 
of  the  inspiration  which  suggested  those  sublime  struc- 
tures ;  to  unveil  the  gigantic  spirituality  that  embodied 
itself  in  the  colossi  around  me;  to  know  the  mystery 
of  that  central  spiritual  sun  whose  Protean  forms  of 
representation,  mirrored  forth  the  lofty  imaginings  of 
the  antique  mind  from  all  the  grim,  grotesque,  sublime, 
and  wonderfully-varied  forms  of  sculpture  around  me. 
Sometimes  I  declaimed  in  wild  and  passionate  accusation 
against  the  silent  sky  and  speechless  stars,  that  had 
revealed  so  much  to  the  seers  and  prophets  of  old,  and 
yet  were  so  dumb  to  me.  In  their  solemn  brightness 
the  ancient  priest  had  been  inspired  to  read  the  mystery 
of  the  Alpha  and  Omega;  why  were  they  now  so  coldly 
unsympathetic  to  my  appeals  for  light?  How  still  and 
motionless  they  seemed  to  my  straining  gaze!  How 
swift,  mighty,  and  powerful  I  knew  them  to  be  under 
the  rule  of  the  eternal  hosts  wlio  commanded  and  mar- 
shalled them  into  living  rank  and  file!  Here,  in  the 
midst  of  those  gigantic  forms  in  which  the  mjn.d  of 

22 


338  GHOST  LAND. 

elder  ages  has  veiled  the  secrets  of  deific  being  and 
embodied  its  perception  of  godlike  power  and  godlike 
dealings  with  men,  is  there  no  vibrating  echo  of  the 
voices  which  once  resounded  through  these  colossi, 
interpreting  the  mystery  of  being  to  rapt  and  listen- 
ing disciples, — not  a  tone  left  to  answer  my  passionate 
and  urgent  appeals  for  light? 

During  a  residence  of  some  months  in  the  province 
of  Arungabad  and  whilst  lingering  in  the  ruinous  city 
of  Dowletabad,  I  rode  over  nearly  every  night  to  the 
mountain  region  of  Ellora,  and  frequently  remained 
there  wandering  amidst  its  silent  monuments  or  shel- 
tering during  the  livelong  night  in  one  of  the  numerous 
grottos  that  had  once  been  the  abode  of  the  anchorites 
or  priests,  whose  duty  it  was  to  minister  in  the  neigh- 
boring temples. 

One  night,  when  I  had  resolved  to  return  to  my  resi- 
dence, I  lingered  at  the  entrance  of  a  low  crypt,  which 
I  had  fitted  up  in  my  own  fashion  with  a  couch  of  sweet- 
scented  leaves  and  herbs,  and  where  I  was  accustomed 
to  paTss  many  hours  of  my  nightly  wanderings.  For 
some  time  I  stood  gazing  abstractedly  over  the  table- 
land which  formed  the  central  enclosure  of  a  chain  of 
mountains  whose  cathedral-like  masses,  towering  up  to 
the  skies  in  a  vast  amphitheatre,  were  pierced  in  every 
direction  with  the  openings  to  crypts  and  grottos,  or 
adorned  with  those  colossal  sculptures  which  indicated 
the  entrances  to  the  temples. 

The  moon  shone  full,  white,  and  glaring  over  these 
awful  solitudes,  more  awful  by  far  in  the  desolation 
which  man  had  left,  than  in  the  pristine  grandeur  of 
nature.  It  was  strange  to  observe  how  tremblingly  the 
moonbeams  lingered  around  the  dark,  cavernous  mouths 
of  crypts  and  temples,  but  never  pierced  the  unlighted 


GHOST  LAND.  339 

gloom  within,  as  if  her  holy  light  was  repelled  by  the 
mysterious  secrets  to  which  those  solemn  scenes  were 
dedicated.  A  thousand  fanciful  shapes  seemed  to  me 
to  press  back  her  flood  of  soft  radiance,  lest  the  light 
should  fall  on  an  arcanum  veiled  even  from  the  speech- 
less witness  of  the  lamps  of  heaven. 

My  horse,  which  had  become  almost  as  accustomed  to 
pilgrim  life  as  his  master,  had  strayed  from  the  large 
grotto  I  had  appropriated  as  his  stable  and  was  quietly 
cropping  the  scanty  herbage  of  a  moonlit  plateau. 
Suddenly  the  sensitive  creature  raised  his  head  and 
moved  his  ears  with  that  peculiar  action  which  announces 
an  unusual  presence  approaching,  long  ere  our  duller 
senses  can  recognize  it.  At  the  same  moment  a  shadow 
passed  across  the  illuminated  ground,  and  the  figure  of 
a  man  appeared,  issuing  from  a  cleft  in  the  mountains, 
and  for  a  few  seconds  lingering,  like  myself,  in  ab- 
stracted contemplation  of  the  solitary  scene.  Presently 
he  quitted  the  spot  where  I  had  first  observed  him,  but 
instead  of  striking  the  path  to  the  right  which  led  off 
from  the  amphitheatre  of  mountains,  he  came  towards 
me,  evidently  purposing  to  cross  the  plateau  in  the  line 
of  which  I  was  standing. 

As  he  neared  me  I  observed  that  his  monastic  habit 
and  cowl  proved  him  to  be  one  of  those  ascetics  who  so 
frequently  sojourn  amidst  these  desolate  regions,  not 
unfrequently  spending  their  lives  within  the  shelter  of 
some  lonely  grotto  or  secluded  crypt. 

I  was  at  no  loss  to  guess  the  secret  of  his  appearance 
at  such  an  hour,  believing  that  he,  like  myself,  was  intent 
upon  communion  with  the  spirit  of  the  scene.  Desir- 
ing to  afford  the  stranger  the  same  uninterrupted  seclu- 
sion which  I  myself  sought,  I  was  retreating  noiselessly 
into  my  hermitage,  when  he  came  towards  me,  with  a 


340  GHOST  LAND. 

swift  and  sudden  action,  and  pausing  opposite  where  I 
stood,  so  that  the  light  of  the  moon  might  fall  directly 
on  my  face  yet  leave  his  own  in  shadow,  he  said  in  a 
sweet  and  winning  tone,  speaking  in  my  favorite  dialect, 
the  Shen  Tamil,  "Forgive  me,  sir,  if  I  congratulate 
you  on  ghoosing  so  fair  a  night  for  a  visit  to  this  impres- 
sive scene."  Ordinarily  I  would  have  resented  this  unwel- 
come invasion  on  my  beloved  solitude ;  besides,  it  was  the 
well-understood  custom  of  visitors  to  these  deserted  cities 
of  the  dead  never  to  intrude  upon  the  meditations  of  those 
who  must  have  come  there  for  any  other  purpose  rather 
than  that  of  social  intercourse.  I  remembered  however, 
that  I  had  left  home  late  in  the  evening,  and  that  with- 
out finding  time  to  assume  my  usual  travelling  dress; 
hence,  that  my  military  attire,  plainly  enough  disclosed 
by  the  broad  glare  of  the  moonbeam,  would  prove  that  I 
was  no  ascetic,  whilst  my  horse  in  the  distance  showed 
that  I  was  a  mere  transient  visitor  to  the  scene.  It  struck 
me  at  once  then,  that  it  was  the  monk  rather  than  the 
soldier,  who  might  be  expected  to  feel  annoyance  at  the 
presence  of  a  stranger,  and  besides  this,  there  was  some- 
thing so  sweet  and  refined  in  his  pure  accent  and  win- 
ning voice  that  I  could  not  refuse  an  exchange  of  cour- 
tesy with  him.  Determined  however  to  ascertain  his 
right  to  become  my  associate,  I  said,  abruptly  enough, 
I  suppose,  w  My  father  is  free  of  this  holy  city.  Is  he 
then  a  dweller  within  its  deep  shadows?" 

Without  following  my  lead  in  the  somewhat  con- 
strained style  suggested  by  the  poetical  dialect  in  which 
he  spoke ,.he  replied  simply,  "Do  you  see  yon  black  spot 
up  there,  far  up  on  the  mountain  side?  Nay  sir,  not 
there  —  be  pleased  to  step  a  little  farther  out  into  the 
moonlight  —  there,  just  where  yon  dark  line  divides 
that  clump  of  bushes." 


GHOST  LAND.  341 

ff  I  perceive,"  I  said.  And  I  did  perceive  that  he  was 
critically  scrutinizing  my  dress,  whilst  he  was  pointing 
off  to  the  spot  he  wished  me  to  notice. 

!?  Well,  sir,"  he  rejoined,  w  there  is  the  Dharma  Sola 
in  which  I  have  found  shelter  for  many  a  long  year, 
when  on  my  return  from  distant  pilgrimages  I  have 
yearned  to  indulge  that  universal  weakness  to  which 
our  poor  frail  humanity  is  most  subject,  namely,  the 
love  of  home." 

"  Home !  "  I  involuntarily  exclaimed.  "  Is  that  hole 
in  the  mountain  side  your  home?  " 

«  Even  so." 

:'You  are  then — ."  I  paused,  for  despite  the  dark 
shroud  which  enveloped  his  whole  form  and  face,  there 
was  something  in  the  bearing  of  this  stranger  which 
would  not  admit  of  questioning. 

"I  am,"  he  rejoined,  in  a  quiet  tone,  "a  native  of  a 
distant  province,  a  Vaidya"  (one  who  practises  the 
art  of  the  mediciner,  the  son  of  mixed  castes),  "but  I 
am  drawn  hither  by  sympathy  and  some  other  motives. 
I  have  many  deep  interests  in  these  mountain  caves  and 
temples,  but  the  one  nearest  to  the  selfishness  of  human 
nature  is  the  love  of  home,  and  in  yon  hole  in  the 
mountain,  as  you  so  graphically  term  my. retreat,  that 
one  personal  interest  finds  its  satisfaction.  Don't  you 
love  home  yourself,  or  are  you  so  immersed  in  the 
excitement  of  your  noble  profession  (pointing  as  he 
spoke  to  my  sword),  that  you  would  prefer  the  battle- 
field to  the  rest  of  home?" 

"I  have  no  home  but  the  camp,"  I  answered, 
brusquely ;  "  I  seek  none  but  the  grave." 

"Too  young  in  age,  too  old  in  wisdom  for  such  an 
answer  as  that,"  he  replied,  gravely.  "Listen:  Home  is 
the  soul's  rest,  not  a  locality  5  it  is  the  scene  where  the 


842  GHOST  LAND. 

wandering  Yogee  and  the  sainted  Irdlii  will  find  rest 
in  the  infinite  soul;  it  is  the  goal  of  all  the  self-inflicted 
tortures  that  fakirs  and  lamas  put  upon  their  miserable 
bodies.  Rest  in  Brahm  is  the  aim  which  enables  the 
Bodliisattvas  to  extinguish  the  perfume  of  the  senses, 
the  ecstacy  of  the  emotions,  the  luxury  of  thought,  and 
the  sensibility  of  self-recognition.  Home  is  soul  absorp- 
tion in  the  central  source  of  being;  in  short,"  he  added, 
starting,  and  changing  the  wild  monotone  of  ecstacy 
into  which  he  seemed  to  be  soaring,  back  to  the  simple 
phraseology  of  the  cosmopolite  in  which  he  at  first 
addressed  me,  "in  short,  Chevalier,  mask  our  aims  in 
what  abstractions  we  will,  whether  we  pursue  love  of 
woman  or  love  of  God,  love  of  gold  or  love  of  renown, 
the  goal  of  our  affections,  whenever  we  attain  to  it,  is 
home,  and,  here  or  hereafter,  our  home  will  be  where 
our  treasure  is.  Am  I  not  right?  " 

"Pardon  me,  sir,"  I  replied,  without  noticing  his 
rhapsody,  "  you  called  me  by  a  title  I  am  little  accus- 
tomed to  hear  from  the  lips  of  a  stranger.  Do  you 
then  know  me?" 

"You  are  accustomed  to  be  addressed  in  military 
phraseology,"  he  replied,  at  once  naming  my  rank  in 
the  army.  *"  Excuse  my  indiscretion." 

"  But  who  is  it,  then,"  I  cried,  somewhat  piqued  to 
be  so  completely  mastered,  "  that  is  discreet  enough  to 
mask  himself,  yet  unmask  me?  " 

"  The  distinguished  ones  of  earth  marvel  to  find  that 
the  humbler  classes  look  up  to  them  as  the  ant  regards 
the  elephant,"  he  answered,  in  a  tone  which  matched 
the  satire  of  his  words;  "nevertheless,  if  it  be  worth 
your  while  to  know  the  dweller  of  you  Matli,  know 
me  as  Chundra  ud  Deen.  To  be  more  in  the  line  of 
your  own  civilization,  should  you  condescend  to  grant 


GHOST  LAND.  343 

the  request  I  shall  presently  make,  call  me,  if  you 
please,  Byga  (mediciner) ;  and  now  for  my  request." 
He  then,  in  the  most  careless  and  off-hand  way,  invited 
me  to  visit  him  in  his  w  hole,"  which  he  so  pretentiously 
called  a  Math  or  circle  of  huts,  such  as  is  devoted  to 
the  use  of  a  spiritual  teacher  and  his  disciples,  but  in  the 
words  of  invitation  he  addressed  to  me,  he  interwove  in 
a  pointed  way,  impossible  for  me  to  mistake,  the  watch- 
word of  an  association  whose  solemn  bonds  had  set 
such  a  seal  of  secrecy  even  upon  my  very  thoughts,  to 
say  nothing  of  my  lips,  that  I  started  and  shivered  whilst 
the  words  fell  on  the  listening  air,  as  if  their  common- 
place expression  had  been  the  deepest  blasphemy.  Had 
a  peal  of  thunder  broken  the  stillness  of  that  breathless 
moonlit  night,  I  could  not  have  been  more  startled  than 
to  hear  those  forbidden  words.  Few  there  are  on  earth 
who  know  of  the  existence  of  such  an  association, 
fewer  still  who  can  claim  fraternity  with  it;  yet  of  that 
few,  one  stood  before  me  now  that  was  inevitably  proved. 
Other  words  and  signs  were  interchanged,  yet  we  did 
not  touch  each  other.  It  was  enough,  and  without  fur- 
ther hesitancy  I  agreed  to  renew  our  acquaintance  at  the 
same  hour  and  place  on  the  following  night;  and  thus 
we  parted,  he  disappearing  in  the  impenetrable  gloom 
of  a  neighboring  temple,  I  signalling  my  horse  to  my 
side  and  preparing  for  a  midnight  ride  home  to  Dow- 
letabad. 


CHAPTEB  XIX. 

DAWNTtfG  LIGHT. 

How  the  hours  lagged!  and  how  wearily  I  won  my 
way  through  the  duties  of  the  day  which  must  elapse 
ere  I  should  again  meet  with  the  Byga,  — that  man  who 
seemed  so  singularly  able  to  medicine  my  restless  spirit 
to  peace.  In  his  presence  and  listening  to  his  wonder- 
fully soothing  voice,  I  had  experienced  a  calm  and  tran- 
quillity to  which  I  had  been  for  years  a  stranger.  There 
was  nothing  remarkable  in  the  words  he  uttered,  still 
less  could  I  regard  the  prospect  of  a  visit  to  his  f?  home," 
as  he  was  pleased  to  call  the  hole  in  the  mountain  where 
he  claimed  to  dwell,  as  an  inviting  one;  yet  I  felt  a 
strange  longing  to  be  there,  and  when  I  speculated  upon 
the  appearance  of  that  "  dark  line  dividing  the  bushes," 
which  he  had  pointed  out  to  me,  I  seemed  to  see  white 
hands  reaching  from  the  mountain  side  and  beckoning 
me  up  its  savage  and  almost  unattainable  heights.  I 
had  intended  to  take  some  sleep  before  commencing  my 
pilgrimage,  but  I  was  detained  on  business  all  day  at 
Aurungabad,  the  capital  city  of  the  province,  and  could 
only  partake  of  a  late  dinner  with  some  brother  officers, 
ere  it  was  time  to  set  oif  on  my  long  ride  in  order  to 
reach  Ellora  by  midnight.  I  succeeded  in  gaining  the 
ravine  by  a  little  after  eleven,  and  having  there  stabled 
my  horse,  proceeded  on  foot  to  the  temples,  which  I 
reached  a  few  minutes  before  the  appointed  hour. 


GHOST  LAND.  345 

The  moon  was  obscured  by  the  driving  clouds  which 
predicated  the  approach  of  a  storm.  The  table-land  of 
the  amphitheatre,  around  which  towered  the  red  granite 
rocks  that  formed  "the  great  religious  city,"  was  desti- 
tute of  all  signs  of  life  or  movement  as  I  approached  it. 
Solitude,  the  most  profound,  desolation  the  most  com- 
plete, cast  a  spell  upon  the  entire  panorama. 

By  an  impulse  I  could  not  account  for,  unless  it  was 
the  necessity  of  keeping  pace  in  quick  motion  with  the 
throbbing  pulsations,  of  my  eager  spirit,  I  moved  on 
from  point  to  point,  scrutinizing  every  cleft  in  the  rocks, 
every  opening  and  sculpture,  looking  for  I  know  not 
what,  and  striving  to  find  out  the  meaning  of  my  own 
feverish  research.  At  length  I  paused  before  one  of 
the  most  ancient  of  the  cave  temples,  whose  deep  re- 
cesses were,  as  I  well  knew,  to  be  reached  only  by 
passing  through  long  rows  of  gigantic  elephants,  whose 
effigies  I  had  often  before  gazed  at  by  the  gloomy  light 
admitted  through  the  vast  portico  or  the  fitful  glare  of 
torches.  I  knew  the  interior  of  that  cavernous  hall 
thoroughly,  and  had  traversed  its  colossal  colonnades 
again  and  again,  yet  now  something  seemed  to  repel 
my  advance,  and  make  me  hesitate  ere  I  took  the  first 
step  onward.  In  this  moment  of  indecision  I  suddenly 
recollected  that  my  appointment  with  the  Byga  was  at 
a  spot  from  which  I  had  strayed  away  nearly  a  mile. 

Provoked  at  my  own  unaccountable  restlessness,  and 
fearing  lest  I  might  fail  in  my  tryst,  I  turned  hastily 
to  retrace  my  steps,  when  I  was  violently  seized  from 
behind,  my  arms  drawn  back  and  tightly  pinioned,  a 
scarf  tied  across  my  eyes  and  another  over  my  mouth ; 
and  all  this  was  done  with  such  an  amount  of  force  and 
incredible  rapidity  that  before  I  had  a  moment's  time  to 
offer  the  least  resistance  I  was  gagged,  pinioned,  and 


346  GHOST  LAND. 

blindfolded,  and  in  this  helpless  position,  with  hands  of 
iron  grasping  me  on  either  side,  I  felt  myself  dragged 
on  in  the  direction  of  the  temple  and  through  its  long 
colonnades  until  I  reached  a  point  where  there  was  a 
slight  pause,  and  the  aroma  of  a  damp,  subterranean 
atmosphere  became  distinctly  palpable.  After  this 
interruption  my  course  was  always  descending,  some- 
times by  rough  steps,  sometimes  by  very  narrow,  wind- 
ing tracks.  Occasionally  the  passages  we  traversed 
were  so  confined  that  my  conductors  were  obliged  to 
advance  before  and  behind  me,  and  again  the  chill  air 
assured  me  we  were  traversing  vaults  or  large  halls. 
Strange  to  say,  my  usual  clairvoyance,  in  this  unex- 
pected captivity,  utterly  forsook  me.  There  seemed  to 
be  a  will  stronger  than  my  own  operating  to  crush  down 
or  subdue  my  spiritual  perceptions,  and  for  some  time  I 
was  too  stunned  to  attempt  resistance.  In  all  this  long 
descent  into  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth  I  heard  no 
other  sound  than  that  of  my  own  footsteps.  ]STo  voice 
spoke,  no  footfall  broke  the  portentous  silence.  The 
strong  grip  of  my  captors  was  the  only  evidence  that  I 
had  companions.  Just  as  we  reached  a  certain  point  and 
when  I  realized  that  I  was  being  forced  to  descend  an 
almost  interminable  stairway,  the  idea  occurred  to  me 
that  by  planting  myself  firmly  on  my  feet  I  might  at  least 
manifest  my  determination  of  going  no  farther.  This 
poor  show  of  resistance,  however,  was  instantly  met  by 
a  push  so  violent  that  had  I  not  been  held  by  hands  of 
iron  I  should  have  been  precipitated  to  whatever  depths 
awaited  me  below ;  then,  as  if  to  convince  me  of  my  utter 
helplessness,  I  was  lifted  up  from  the  ground,  and  despite 
the  fact  that  my  conductor  carried  a  burden  of  six  feet 
in  height  with  a  proportionate  amount  of  diameter,  I 
was  borne  along  for  some  time  in  the  grasp  of  this  Titan 


GHOST  LAND.  347 

as  if  I  had  been  an  infant.  Happily,  as  I  deemed  it,  the 
next  passage  was  too  low  and  narrow  to  admit  of  such 
a  mode  of  locomotion,  and  I  was,  again  set  on  my 
feet,  whilst  the  iron  grasp  of  one  giant  before  and  another 
behind  me,  sufficiently  advised  me  of  the  uselessness  of 
further  demonstrations  on  my  part. 

At  length  I  experienced  a  marked  change  both  in  the 
atmosphere  around  me  and  the  ground  on  which  I  trod. 
The  air  became  soft,  balmy,  and  perfumed  with  the 
odor  of  aromatic  essences,  and  the  floor  was  smooth 
and  hard  as  if  formed  of  polished  stones.  Presently  I 
felt  busy  hands  about  me  removing  the  gag,  bandage, 
and  thongs,  and  then  it  was  that  a  sight  burst  upon  my 
eyes  such  as  no  language  of  mine  can  do  justice  to. 
I  stood  in  a  subterranean  temple  of  immense  extent, 
fashioned  in  the  shape  of  a  horse-shoe,  the  large  oval 
of  which  was  arranged  as  an  auditorium,  with  luxuri- 
ously cushioned  seats  in  ascending  circles,  on  the  plan  of 
an  amphitheatre.  The  lofty  roof  was  surrounded  with 
highly-wrought  cornices,  sculptured  with  emblems  of 
Egyptian  and  Chaldaic  worship,  interspersed  with  sen- 
tences emblazoned  in  gold,  in  Arabic,  Sanskrit,  and 
other  Oriental  languages.  In  the  midst  of  the  roof 
which  sloped  upwards,  was  a  magnificent  golden  plani- 
sphere, formed  on  an  azure  plane,  and  so  skilfully 
designed  that  the  interior  of  the  temple  was  illuminated 
from  the  representations  of  the  heavenly  host  that 
gleamed  and  sparkled  above  my  head.  The  walls  were 
hewn  out  of  the  same  red  granite  which  composed  the 
mountains  of  the  district,  but  they  were  thickly  adorned 
with  gigantic  images  of  the  Hindoo  and  Egyptian  gods, 
surmounted  by  a  border  of  gorgeous  bas  relievos,  some 
of  which  represented  ancient  Chaldaic  tablets;  others 
were  engraved  with  planispheres,  astrological  charts, 


348  GHOST  LAND. 

and  scenes  in  Babylonish,  Assyrian,  and  Chaldaic  his- 
tory. At  the  small  opening  of  the  horse-shoe  was  a  sec- 
ond cavern,  hewn  gut  of  the  solid  rock,  and  so  designed 
as  to  form  an  immense  raised  platform  or  stage,  on  the 
floor  of  which  was  spread  a  carpet  of  grassy  turf,  or  an 
imitation  so  finely  executed  that  the  difference  could  not 
be  detected.  A  pair  of  gigantic  sphinxes  supported 
either  side  of  this  noble  rostrum,  and  an  immense  image 
of  the  winged  bull  of  Nineveh  was  suspended,  in  all 
probability  by  magnetic  force,  in  mid-air,  between  the 
high  vaulted  roof  and  the  grassy  carpet  beneath.  The 
walls  and  ceiling  of  this  huge,  cavernous  stage,  were 
otherwise  destitute  of  adornment.  A  golden  hand  held 
a  scroll  suspended  over  the  auditorium,  inscribed  with 
a  word  in  Arabic  which  corresponds  to  NEOPHYTES, 
whilst  a  similar  hand  and  scroll  appeared  over  the  cor- 
nice which  served  as  proscenium  to  the  stage,  with  the 
Arabic  inscription  signifying  HIEROPHANTS.  Ranged 
in  a  semicircle  midway  on  the  platform  were  seven 
tripods  supporting  braziers,  from  which  ascended  colored 
flames  and  wreaths  of  deliciously  perfumed  vapors, 
whose  intoxicating  odors  filled  the  temple.  Behind 
each  tripod,  seated  on  thrones  fashioned  of  burnished 
silver,  so  as  to  represent  a  glittering  star,  were  seven 
dark-robed  figures,  whose  masked  faces  and  shrouded 
forms  left  no  opportunity  of  judging  of  their  sex  or 
semblance.  Around  me,  some  reclining,  some  sitting 
in  Oriental  fashion,  but  all  seemingly  engrossed  in  deep 
abstraction,  were  multitudes  of  men  attired  mostly  in 
European,  but  with  some  Hindoo  costumes.  Their  faces 
were  concealed,  however,  for  they  all  wore  masks.  I 
observed  that  those  who  had  removed  the  bandage 
from  my  face  had  invested  me  also  with  a  mask,  leaving 
my  eyes  entirely  free,  and  thus  enabling  me  to  make  an 


GHOST  LAND.  349 

uninterrupted  survey  of  the  remarkable  scene  around 
me. 

In  all  I  gazed  upon,  there  was  no  minutiaB  of  detail; 
all  was  colossal,  distinct,  magnificent,  whilst  every  design, 
however  vast  its  size,  was  executed  in  a  style  of  the 
most  perfect  workmanship.  The  light  diffused  from  the 
gorgeous  planisphere  of  the  roof  was  soft  yet  brilliant, 
and  by  an  arrangement  since  explained  to  me,  large 
shafts  were  so  constructed  as  to  communicate  with  the 
upper  air  and  thus  introduce  a  perfect  supply  of  fresh 
atmosphere  even  into  the  deep  abysses  of  this  subterra- 
nean chamber. 

For  the  first  few  moments  of  my  liberation,  astonish- 
ment, delight,  and  awe  kept  me  motionless.  It  was 
whilst  I  was  thus  gazing  around  me  that  I  beheld  the 
entire  assemblage  directing  their  masked  faces  towards 
me,  but  from  every  quarter  giving  me  the  signs  of 
brotherhood  in  one  or  more  of  the  different  fraternities 
to  which  I  belonged.  I  have  since  learned,  and  believe 
I  then  understood,  that  there  was  not  a  person  present 
who  had  not  been  initiated  into  one  or  more  of  the  occult 
societies  with  which  I  was  myself  connected.  The 
recognition  of  this  fact  placed  me  at  once  upon  a  foot- 
ing of  understanding  with  my  companions  and  indicated 
the  line  of  conduct  that  was  expected  from  me.  There 
was,  and  still  is,  an  unspoken  cipher  of  signals  existing 
amongst  certain  brotherhoods,  far  more  terse  and  sig- 
nificant than  speech,  and  this  I  found  in  practice  with 
my  new  associates.  By  this  method  I  learned  the  spe- 
cial ideas  upon  which  I  was  expected  to  rely  that  night. 
The  first  was  the  sentiment  of  brotherhood  extended 
from  one  particular  order  to  as  many  as  would  represent 
humanity  at  large.  The  next  was  an  understanding 
that  the  aim  of  our  gathering  was  the  discovery  of 


350  GHOST  LAND. 

occultism  and  our  methods  of  research  were  to  be  occult 
likewise.  Another  piece  of  instruction  was,  never  in 
the  most  distant  way  to  allude  to  the  Society  or  its  ex- 
istence, to  any  of  its  members  whom  I  should  chance  to 
meet  in  the  world,  the  object  in  this  prohibition  being 
to  avoid  discussion  on  the  nature  of  the  intelligence 
communicated.  I  was  required  to  reflect  upon  it  within 
myself,  or,  if  I  chose  to  adopt  its  revelations  as  my  own 
opinions,  to  communicate  them  to  others,  not  members 
of  the  Society;  also  I  might  allude  to  the  existence  of 
such  an  association  and  describe  its  aims,  but  never 
reveal  the  names  of  its  members  or  guide  strangers  to 
the  many  scenes  where  its  sessions  were  held.  The 
final  charge  impressed  upon  me  was  to  be  strictly  atten- 
tive to  the  proceedings,  in  virtue  of  which  I  fixed  my 
eyes  upon  the  seven  masked  and  robed  figures  on  the 
platform,  who  I  at  first  thought  were  simply  effigies,  but 
as  soon  as  the  whole  assembly  were  seated  and  in  order, 
I  observed  they  arose,  one  after  the  other,  each  one  mak- 
ing his  sign  of  intelligence  and  then  resuming  his  seat 
and  moveless  attitude.  The  first  command  issued  in 
this  way  was  for  Pythagorean  silence  during  each  ses- 
sion. The  next  required  from  all,  Platonic  submission 
to  the  order  during  our  connection  with  it.  The  third 
assured  us  of  divine  protection.  The  fourth  apprised 
me  in  especial,  that  my  most  secret  wishes  were  pene- 
trated. The  fifth  (still  addressed  to  me)  promised  me 
complete  gratification  of  those  wishes.  The  sixth  was 
an  universal  charge  for  discretion  in  the  use  of  the  knowl- 
edge I  was  to  receive,  virtue  in  its  application,  and  fra- 
ternal love  in  its  distribution.  The  seventh  sign  I  am 
not  at  liberty  to  explain,  but  I  was  advised  by  one  of 
the  masked  figures  near  me  that  propositions  for  com- 
plete initiation  would  be  given  me  hereafter. 


GHOST  LAND.  351 

During  the  time  that  these  ciphers  were  being  enact- 
ed, the  entire  auditorium  was  becoming  enveloped  in 
gloom,  so  that  when  this  part  of  the  proceedings  ended, 
I  found  the  light  greatly  subdued  and  the  radiance  of 
the  noble  planisphere  modified  to  a  soft  twilight,  such  as 
would  be  dispensed  by  the  moon  and  stars.  And  now, 
my  most  imperfect  sketch  of  the  fine  temple  and  the 
opening  scenes  of  the  grand  drama  ended,  let  me  essay 
to  describe  those  which  followed. 

A  deep  hush  reigned  on  every  side  of  me,  a  silence 
that  could  be  felt  pervaded  the  assembly,  when  I  per- 
ceived that  the  entire  of  the  vast  cavern  that  formed  the 
stage  at  the  small  opening  of  the  horse-shoe,  was  melt- 
ing away.  Walls,  ceiling,  hierophants,  silver  thrones, 
and  braziers,  all  vanished,  and  in  their  place  I  beheld 
illimitable  wastes  of  what  seemed  at  first  to  be  impen- 
etrable darkness.  Presently  I  observed  there  was 
motion,*  an  ever-increasing,  wave-like  motion,  and  a 
gradually  diminishing  hue  in  this  thick  blackness, 
which  became  refined  into  a  gray,  silvery  vapor,  and 
at  last  melted  entirely  away.  Then  I  saw  a  boundless 
univergcdum,  in  which  were  represented  myriads  of 
hemispheres.  Above,  below,  around,  stretching  away 
into  endless  horizons,  and  ascending  from  thence  beyond 
every  imaginable  limitation,  were  piled  up  hemisphere 
upon  hemisphere,  densely  massed  yet  all  separate  from 
one  another,  and  all  blazing  with  systems,  every  system 
sparkling  with  suns,  planets,  comets,  meteors,  moons, 
rings,  belts,  and  nebulaB.  Millions  and  millions  of  these 
systems  swarmed  through  the  spaces  of  the  universe, 
yet  all  differed  the  one  from  the  other,  whilst  all  moved 
in  the  same  resplendent  order,  swinging  around  some 
mighty  and  inconceivable  pivotal  centre.  And  in  this 
stupendous  scheme  of  harmony,  every  newly  created 


352  GHOST  LAND, 

cluster  of  fire-mist  seemed  as  admirably  adjusted  to 
its  relative  point  of  space  in  the  universe  as  the  huge 
astral  systems  with  their  galaxies  of  suns,  stars,  and 
revolving  satellites.  I  saw  the  spaces  of  the  universe 
divided  up  into  hemispheres, — hemispheres  into  sidereal 
heavens, — heavens  studded  with  suns,  forming  systems 
of  created  worlds  in  every  stage  of  progression,  from 
unparticled  fire-mist  to  the  central  sun  of  a  perfected 
system. 

I  merely  thought  of  the  order  in  which  the  movements 
of  the  universe  transpired,  when  I  instantly  discovered 
that  the  motions  of  bodies  in  space  were  not,  as  I  had 
deemed  them,  a  mere  automatic  revolution  around  a  cen- 
tral orb.  It  is  true  that  each  one  moved  in  an  axial  orbit 
of  its  own,  having  direct  relation  to  its  solar  centre ;  that 
its  path  was  circular,  and  bent  or  deflected  only  at  its 
points  of  aphelion  and  perihelion;  but  as  the  observant 
gaze  became*  able  to  master  the  details  of  planetary  mo- 
tion, uiiappreciable  at  first  by  reason  of  its  inconceivable 
rapidity,  it  detected  subordinate  motions,  which  impressed 
upon  every  flying  orb  the  character  of  an  individualized 
life,  and  showed  it  to  be  endowed  with  an  animation  of 
its  own.  These  sparkling  worlds  swam,  danced,  sported, 
floated  upwards  and  darted  downwards,  with  all  the 
erratic  mobility  of  zigzag  lightning.  Could  they  be 
really  living,  sentient  beings,  —  glorious  organisms  not 
moved  upon,  but  breathing,  burning,  rejoicing  lives, 
acting  in  the  inimitable  procedures  of  fixed  law?  but  no 
more  so  than  the  child  who  wins  its  way  from  point  to 
point,  yet  is  ever  turning  to  gather  flowers  and  butter- 
flies in  erratic  divergence  from  the  line  of  its  path ;  no 
more  so  than  the  man  whose  fixed  destiny  between  the 
cradle  and  the  grave  is  checkered  by  all  the  turnings 
and  windings  which  a  mobile  fancy  and  wandering 


GHOST  LAND.  353 

imagination  can  prompt.  Could  they  be  all  living 
organisms,  and  the  immensity  of  the  universe  be  filled, 
not  with  billions  of  manufactured  autometa,  but  with 
legions  of  living  creatures,  rushing  through  the  orbits 
of  illimitable  space  in  the  joy  and  glory  of  life  everlast- 
ing? Could  our  own  burning  sun  and  its  shining  family 
of  planetary  orbs  be  all  creatures  of  parts  and  passions, 
organs  and  susceptibilities,  with  a  framework  of  rocky 
ribs  and  mountain  bones  and  sinews ;  veins  and  arteries 
coursed  by  the  fluid-life  of  oceans  and  rivers ;  heaving 
lungs  aerated  by  the  breath  of  winds  and  atmospheres ; 
electric  life  evolved  from  the  galvanic  action  of  metallic 
lodes,  threading  their  way  like  a  gigantic  nervous  sys- 
tem through  every  globe ;  vast  reservoirs  of  polar  force 
generated  in  the  Arctic  North  and  Antarctic  South ;  the 
brain  and  feet  of  the  living  creature,  realms  of  supply 
for  the  waste  of  physical  life,  in  the  relation  which  every 
satellite  sustains  to  its  solar  centre,  and  one  vast  col- 
lective soul  in  the  aggregated  mass  of  soul  atoms  that 
maintain  a  parasitical  life  upon  the  surface  of  every 
planet?  In  the  Apocalyptic  vision  now  presented  to  my 
dazzled  sight,  every  sun,  star,  planet,  comet,  moon,  every 
fully-formed  body  in  space,  in  short,  was  a  living  being, 
a  body  and  soul,  —  e  physical  form  destined  to  sustain  a 
transitory  material  existence,  composed  of  infinitesimal 
physical  beings  of  its  own  grade  and  order,  —  an  immor- 
tal spirit  moulded  and  grown  through  the  formative  ele- 
ment of  matter,  destined  to  survive  its  dissolution,  and 
live  eternally  as  a  perfected  soul,  carrying  with  it  all  the 
freight  of  soul  atoms  which  it  has  sustained  and  unfolded, 
like  the  leaves  and  blossoms  of  its  own  parental  germ 
seed. 

I  know  this  thought  will  seem  like  the  rhapsody  01  a 
delirious  fancy  to  those  who  have  not  read  the  universe 

23 


354  GHOST  LAND. 

in  its  occult  page  of  unfoldment  as  I  have,  but  the  time 
will  come  when  the  Cabala  of  existence  shall  be  read  as 
an  open  page.  This  "  madness  "  will  then  be  accepted 
as  true  philosophy;  until  then, the  revelating  angel  bids 
me  write  —  and  I  obey. 

And  next  I  pondered  on  the  unknown,  perhaps  the 
unknowable,  central  source  from  which  and  to  which,  I 
perceived,  every  body  in  space  tended,  around  which 
infinity  itself  becomes  a  revolution.  I  saw  that  mil- 
lions and  millions  of  hemispheres  were  swept  on  in 
paths  as  strictly  orbital  as  the  smallest  planet  of  a 
single  system.  The  whole  vast  arcanum  of  the  universe, 
then,  must  move  around  some  definite  pivotal  point. 

As  I  reflected,  the  answer  came.  The  universe  of 
matter  became  translucent,  and  throughout  its  illimit- 
able spaces  I  saw  that  creation  was  filled  with  piercing 
beams  from  the  central  sun  of  being.  In  a  space  less 
in  magnitude  than  a  degree  marked  on  a  child's  school- 
map,  I  might  have  counted  millions  upon  millions  of 
such  beams,  yet  the  wondrous  constituents  of  their 
nature  were  plainly  revealed  to  me.  The  external  or 
visible  shaft  of  every  ray  was  formed  of  physical  light, 
or  matter  in  its  most  sublimed  condition.  This  shaft 
was  lined  by  a  ray  of  astral  light  or  force,  and  this  again 
by  spiritual  light,  or  the  element  from  which  is  formed 
the  imperishable  soul.  Conceive  of  the  whole  universe 
filled  with  these  rays  so  thickly  planted  that  space 
becomes  annihilated;  trace  them  to  their  source;  and 
you  will  resolve  them  all  back  to  one  illimitable  realm, 
into  which  no  worlds,  suns,  systems,  bodies  in  space, 
spirits,  souls,  nor  men  have  ever  penetrated;  where 
thought  becomes  madness,  ideality  is  lost;  from  which 
light,  life,  force,  motion,  matter,  government,  order, 
power  go  forth,  but  to  which  nothing  that  is  returns 


GHOST  LAND.  355 

again,  and  know  then  the  source  from  which  those  rays 
of  living  light  emanate;  know  then  the  central  sun 
the  body  and  soul  of  the  universe,  THE  GOD,  of  whom 
man  cannot  even  think  and  live. 

One  of  my  favorite  studies  at  college  was  the  chem- 
istry of  the  sunbeam,  and  I  have  spent  many  an  hour  in 
delighted  observation  of  such  experiments  as  discovered 
the  constitution,  direction,  and  effect  of  this  marvellous 
agent,  in  the  economy  of  life,  light,  and  growth;  but 
how  tame,  dull,  and  insignificant,  what  mere  child's 
play  with  shells  and  husks,  became  the  memories  of  all 
that  physical  science  could  reveal,  compared  with  the 
broader,  grander  vistas  of  causation,  opened  up  to  my 
view,  as  I  penetrated  into  the  arcanum  of  spiritual  sci- 
ence. Could  the  dreams  of  the  fire- worshipper,  then, 
have  a  better  foundation  in  divine  truth  than  the  assever- 
ations of  the  theologian?  asked  my  questioning  soul. 

The  revelating  angel  answered  by  a  fresh  series  of 
visions.  I  beheld  a  single  planet,  my  own  perhaps, 
with  the  light  of  the  parent  sun  removed,  and  lo !  as  by 
an  instantaneous  blight,  all  color,  beauty,  shape,  and 
form  ceases.  Now  I  behold  a  world  from  which  the 
heat  of  the  sun  is  withdrawn,  and  instantly  life  is  sus- 
pended. A  dull,  leaden,  crystalline  death  sets  in,  the 
wheels  of  being  stop  short,  and  being  itself  is  at  an  end. 

I  behold  the  centripetal  force  of  the  sun  withdrawn 
from  our  solar  system,  and  planets,  moons,  asteroids, 
comets,  meteors,  and  all  the  array  of  embryonic  ele- 
ments held  in  solar  paths  fly  off  in  ungoveraed  space, 
and  become  lost  in  endless  ruin. 

I  see  the  centrifugal  force  withdrawn,  and  the  solar 
system  rushing  to  a  point,  is  absorbed,  swallowed  up  in 
the  parent  mass,  and  the  parent  mass  itself  becomes  a 
mere  wreck  of  worlds.  If  such  are  the  life-giving, 


356  GHOST  LAND. 

life-sustaining  potencies  of  the  physical  sun,  what  must 
be  the  correlative  action  of  the  spiritual  sun  on  the 
realm  of  immortal  being? 

If  such  is  the  actual  physical  relation  of  the  sun  of 
our  system  to  the  world,  and  to  the  forms  which  it  has 
sown  in  the  garden  of  the  skies,  what  may  we  not 
dream  of,  and  aspire  to  know,  when  in  future  ages  of 
progression  we  may  ascend  to  the  heaven  of  heavens, 
and  comprehend  the  mystery  of  God !  Again  I  saw  the 
universe  outrolled  and  upon  its  shining  surface  worlds, 
with  all  their  freight  of  material  life,  vitalized  by  force 
and  inspired  by  spirit;  and  this  trinity  of  being  ranged 
from  the  gelatinous  masses  that  floated  in  ancient  seas 
to  the  sparkling  suns  that  blazed  and  burned  in  the 
depths  of  sidereal  heavens. 

With  each  fresh  phase  of  the  vision,  fresh  questions 
rose  like  waves  in  the  surging  sea  of  my  storm-tossed 
mind. 

To  the  next  craving  appeal  for  ff  light,  more  light," 
came  stealing  on  my  senses  the  tones  of  this  mild  re- 
buke :  "  Seek  not,  child,  to  compass  eternity  in  a  single 
hour  of  time.  Be  patient,  and  all  shall  be  revealed, 
which  is  good  for  thee  to  know."  For  many  and 
many  a  night,  during  many  succeeding  weeks  of  almost 
ecstatic  life,  these  precious  promises  were  kept  to  me 
by  revelations  of  a  similar  character  to  that  which  I 
have  noted  down,  and  that,  not  in  language  worthy  of 
the  sublime  and  stupendous  light  that  poured  in  on  my 
soul,  but  in  the  simplest,  plainest  phrases,  I  could  sum- 
mon to  my  aid.  As  all  language  is  unworthy  when 
matched  against  thoughts  which  speech  fails  to  inter- 
pret, so  do  I  employ  a  form  of  expression  so  rude,  that 
my  utter  powerlessness  will  be  shown  in-  every  line  I 
write.  Enough  that  the  themes  which  an  Apocalyptic 


GHOST  LAND.  357 

angel  alone  could  demonstrate,  were  shown  to  me  in 
those  magnificent  visions,  until  a  complete  cosmic  scheme 
was  revealed,  of  which  the  following  may  be  named  as 
some  of  the  subjects  treated  of.  World  building  and 
builders,  constitution  of  the  solar  universe.  Of  gods, 
men,  spirits,  angels,  the  fall,  growth,  and  reconstruction 
of  the  spirit.  The  realm  and  destiny  of  souls.  Light, 
heat,  physical,  astral,  and  spiritual  light.  The  human 
soul,  its  powers,  possibilities,  forces,  and  destiny.  Will; 
occult  and  magical  powers,  forces,  and  objects.  The 
relation  and  influence  of  planetary  bodies  upon  each 
other;  the  human  mind,  the  necessity  of  theological 
myths.  The  permanance  of  being,  cycles  of  time, 
cyclones  of  storm  and  sunshine  in  human  life,  etc.  etc. 
etc. 

Of  these  stupendous  themes  the  treatment  was  ever 
grand,  original,  bold,  and  conclusive. 

A  scheme  was  presented,  upon  which,  as  I  now  sol- 
emnly believe  and  hope,  the  foundations  of  a  new,  true, 
and  religious  science  and  scientific  religion  will  yet  be 
upreared.  The  thoughts  which  shone  in  resplendent 
imagery  before  the  eyes  of  my  associates  and  myself  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  have  gradually  been  leavening 
the  lump  of  civilized  society  during  that  whole  period 
of  time.  They  have  been  seen  in  vision,  felt  in  soul, 
and  taught  in  isolated  fragments  by  many  a  solitary  pio- 
neer of  the  new  church  that  shall  be;  but  chiefly  has 
their  influence  been  realized  as  the  radiation  of  an  un- 
known force,  whose  subtile  potencies  are  making  for 
themselves  a  lever  of  public  opinion,  a  giant  whose  will 
is  sufficient  to  raise  up  every  stone  in  the  new  temple 
and  put  them  all  in  place,  a  concrete  and  glorious  whole, 
when  the  stones  of  thought  shall  have  been  hewn  each 
in  its  separate  quarry,  when  every  stone  shall  be  fair 


358  GHOST  LAND. 

and  square  and  true,  and  ready  in  its  separate  perfec- 
tion to  form  a  part  of  the  sublime  erection.  That  the 
midnight  assemblies  gathered  together  in  the  subterra- 
nean vaults  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  ancient  India's 
cave  temples  has  had  its  share  in  leavening  the  mass  :>f 
public  opinion  in  the  nineteenth  century,  I  know,  by  the 
experience  of  better  soldiers  in  the  army  of  metaphysi- 
cal progress  than  myself;  but  as  no  mortal  tongue  or 
pen  can  do  justice  to  the  gorgeous  imagery  with  which 
it  was  our  great  privilege  to  be  favored,  as  these  mere 
magazine  sketches,  moreover,  are  not  the  fit  channels 
for  the  publication  of  the  glowing  ideality  which  these 
visionary  representations  inspired,  I  shall  presently  dis- 
close to  my  readers  the  singular  modus  operandi  by 
which  the  visions  of  our  fraternity  were  impressed  on 
the  recipients,  and  write  of  them  no  more. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  grand  drama  enacted  before 
my  eyes,  I  suddenly  felt  the  encompassing  arms  of 
strangers  tying  my  hands  and  fastening  thick  bandages 
over  my  face.  This  time  I  had  no  desire  to  resist  the 
movements  of  my  captors;  on  the  contrary,  I  rose  at 
their  touch  and  suffered  them  to  reconduct  me  through 
another  series  of  passages,  for  such  I  had  instinctive 
reasons  for  knowing  was  my  mode  of  exit,  until  we 
reached  a  very  distant  point  of  the  amphitheatre  of 
mountains  from  that  at  which  we  had  entered.  The 
bandages  were  removed  as  rapidly  and  noiselessly  as 
they  had  been  adjusted;  but  my  conductors  were  gone 
before  I  had  fairly  recovered  my  sense  of  liberty.  They 
left  me  with  the  mask  I  had  worn  in  my  hands  and  a 
strip  of  paper  attached  to  it,  on  which  were  inscribed 
in  fine  Sanskrit  characters  these  words :  "  The  night 
after  to-morrow  at  12  midnight.  Clmndra  ud  Deen" 

Who  can  doubt  that  I  was  faithful  to  my  appointment? 


GHOST  LAND.  359 

and  I  deemed  myself  sufficiently  rewarded  when  I 
gained  the  plateau  to  see  the  tall  form  and  monastic 
robes  of  my  mysterious  acquaintance  there  before  me. 
He  greeted  me  with  warmth  and  the  peculiarly  sweet 
c  artesy  which  had  distinguished  his  manner  at  our  first 
interview.  Before  I  could  make  any  inquiry  concern- 
ing his  agency  in  my  late  adventure,  he  spoke  of  it, 
with  apologies  for  the  rough  mode  of  my  first  initia- 
tion. He  gave  me  ample  reasons  for  the  mystery  in 
which  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  veil  the  entrances 
to  those  vast  crypts  and  subterranean  retreats,  which  I 
well  knew  undermined  so  many  of  the  ancient  temples 
and  not  unfrequently  exceeded  in  size  and  grandeur  the 
superstructures  themselves.  He  informed  me  that  my 
true  initiation  was  to  take  place  that  night,  provided  I 
was  sufficiently  interested  in  what  I  had  seen  to  desire 
association  with  the  fraternity  I  had  visited. 

My  name,  standing,  character,  and  spiritualistic  pro- 
clivities were  all  known  to  this  brotherhood;  indeed, 
none  ever  had  been  or  could  be  introduced  amongst 
them  who  were  not  already  known  and  selected  for  the 
qualities  which  were  in  harmony  with  the  association. 
My  mysterious  friends  had  the  advantage  of  me  at 
every  point,  but  I  was  entirely  willing  to  trust  them, 
and  that  night  saw  me  a  sworn  brother  of  their  order. 

Amongst  the  many  items  of  occult  lore  I  learned  in 
that  wonderful  convention  of  true  spiritual  scientists, 
was  the  singular  and  original  method  by  which  their 
gorgeous  dramatic  representations  were  made. 

The  whole  temple  was  furnished  with  fine  metallic 
lines,  every  one  of  which  converged  to  six  powerful 
galvanic  batteries  attached  to  the  silver  thrones  occu- 
pied by  six  of  the  adepts.  These  persons,  ADEPTS  in 
the  loftiest  and  most  significant  sense  of  the  term, 


360  GHOST  LAND. 

received  their  inspiration  from  the  occupant  of  the 
seventh  throne,  a  being  who,  though  always  present, 
was  not  always  visible,  although  as  on  the  first  night 
of  my  attendance  a  presence  from  the  realms  of  super- 
nal being  was  always  there. 

The  office  of  the  adepts  was  to  centralize  and  focalize 
the  inspiration  received.  The  thoughts  of  each  were 
first  focalized  into  one  idea  on  the  rostrum,  and  from 
thence  distributed  to  every  neophyte  in  the  auditorium. 
This  universal  impression  was  produced,  first,  by  the 
harmonious  spirit  of  accordance  which  pervaded  the 
assembly;  next,  by  the  influence  of  strong  and  concen- 
trated psychology;  and  finally  by  the  distributive  power 
and  force  of  the  galvanic  lines  extending,  as  before 
stated,  from  the  rostrum  to  every  member  in  the  audi- 
torium. 

The  negative  pole  of  this  complete  battery  was  formed 
by  the  neophytes,  the  positive  pole  by  the  hierophants ; 
and  I  solemnly  swear,  as  a  man  pledged  only  to  record 
the  truths  of  that  higher  realm  of  being  into  which  I 
have  been  permitted  most  reverently  to  look,  that  the 
whole  of  the  gorgeous  representations  enacted  before 
my  eyes  during  several  consecutive  weeks  of  three  ses- 
sions each  week  were  psychological  images  impressed 
upon  the  adepts  by  the  presiding  angel  of  our  holy 
gathering,  and  from  thence  distributed  and  transmitted 
mentally  to  the  seat  of  consciousness  by  psychology, 
and  physically  by  connecting  links  of  electric  force  to 
every  member  of  our  vast  assemblage.  Let  no  sneer- 
ing sceptic  doubt  the  possibility  of  transmitting  thought 
even  through  the  physical  methods  here  roughly  indi- 
cated. 

Well-practised  biologists  will  never  question  the  pos- 
sibility of  the  mental  action  described,  except  as  regards 


GHOST  LAND.  361 

the  vast  number  operated  upon  at  once;  but  on  this 
point  permit  me  to  assure  my  readers  that  no  inconsid- 
erable part  of  East  Indian  magic  depends  upon  psycho- 
logical impressions  produced  by  single  adepts  upon  vast 
multitudes.  The  science  of  illusion  —  a  term  which  in 
translation  but  ill  represents  the  original  idea — is  one 
in  which  every  adept,  ancient  and  modern,  must  become 
aufait  if  he  would  succeed  as  an  "  enchanter  "  or  a  good 
"  magician."  The  rationale  of  magic  is  WILL  or  psy- 
chology; the  success  of  psychology  or  the  operation  of 
WILL  depends  upon  the  entire  absence  of  intervening 
obstacles.  Thus,  if  you  will  a  thought  to  reach  another 
at  any  distance,  long  or  short,  your  thought  will  surely 
reach  its  object,  provided  it  encounters  no  psychological 
obstacle  more  potent  than  itself.  Man  possesses  inher- 
ently the  power  to  effect  any  phenomenon  in  or  upon 
matter  that  spirits  can  do,  provided  his  spiritual  forces 
encounter  no  cross  currents  of  magnetism,  no  opposing 
lines  of  force.  The  potencies  of  will  have  been  exalted, 
known,  felt,  and  practised  by  the  mystics,  magians, 
seers,  and  prophets  of  all  ages.  Why  WILL  ever  fails 
to  accomplish  its  ends  arises  from  the  fact  that  thou- 
sands, perhaps  millions,  of  other  wills  are  traversing 
space  in  opposing  lines  and  contrary  currents,  and  so 
the  force  of  one  will,  which  might  else  prove  irresistible 
if  directed  under  carefully  arranged  conditions  and  suf- 
fered to  operate  unhindered  upon  its  object,  becomes 
thwarted,  and  a  single  failure  of  this  kind  will  be  imme- 
diately quoted  as  an  illustration  of  the  hollow  preten- 
sions which  psychologists  make  for  the  sovereign  potency 
of  WILL.  The  association  of  which  I  have  been  speak- 
ing originated  centuries  ago,  in  a  keen  perception,  on  the 
part  of  one  mighty  metaphysician,  that  the  powers  and 
forces  of  the  human  soul  might  be  so  concentred  as  to 


362  GHOST  LAND. 

imitate  the  creative  action,  and  give  an  actual  sensuous 
embodiment  to  ideas.  I  shall  not  here  enter  into  the 
results  of  experiments  persevered  in,  as  I  have  hinted, 
during  centuries  of  time  with  varying  success,  —  success 
proportioned  to  the  excellence  or  indifference  of  the  sub- 
jects by  whom  they  were  conducted. 

The  discovery  and  application  of  electric  force  as  a 
means  of  stimulating  mental  power,  created  a  complete 
new  era  in  this  remarkable  fraternity,  and  urged  for- 
ward its  adepts  to  a  class  of  fresh  experiments,  some  of 
which  have  been  of  the  most  stupendous  character. 
The  privilege  of  explaining  and  enlarging  upon  them  is 
not  at  present  accorded  to  me,  otherwise  I  could  more 
than  justify  the  immense  claims  I  advance  for  the  po- 
tency of  the  human  will,  especially  when  strengthened 
by  scientific  appliances. 

In  reference  to  the  transmission  of  thought  by  aid 
of  electro-magnetism,  I  have  repeatedly  proved  its  pos- 
sibility, nay,  demonstrated  its  infallibility,  by  experi- 
ments conducted  with  my  friend,  Mrs.  Emma  Hardinge 
Britten.  We  had  already  become  experts  in  the  pro- 
cesses of  mental  telegraphy,  which  we  were  enabled  to 
practise  with  invariable  success ;  but  with  the  potential, 
although  still  more  material  agency  of  electricity 
evolved  from  mineral  substances,  we  arrived  at  a  means 
of  energizing  the  subtile  though  variable  powers  of 
vital  magnetism,  which  tended  to  render  its  operation 
more  than  ever  reliable  and  uniform. 

In  fine,  I  feel  authorized  to  say  that  none  are  quali- 
fied to  pronounce  a  verdict  of  "  unreliability  "  against 
my  statements,  unless  they  have  themselves  experi- 
mented in  the  same  direction,  and  that  with  all  the 
advantage  of  well-prepared  conditions.  The  fraternity 
of  which  I  have  given  so  very  brief  a  description  sur- 


GHOST  LAND.  363 

rounded  their  practices  with  a  perfect  bulwark  of  psy- 
chological defences,  against  which  the  intrusion  of 
unfavorable  conditions  was  impossible.  Every  member 
of  that  venerable  association  was  selected  for  the  peculiar 
endowments  which  its  interests  demanded.  ~No  dis- 
qualified person  could,  by  the  remotest  possibility, 
have  access  to  its  sessions.  The  psychic  rulers  were 
not  only  adepts  in  the  mental  force  necessary  for  their 
office,  but  practical w  magicians,"  whose  knowledge  and 
experience  of  the  occult  in  Nature  placed  her  mys- 
terious elements  of  power  #t  their  command.  The 
teachings  given  in  that  society  were  derived,  not  only 
from  the  cumulative  wisdom  of  the  ages,  but  also  from 
the  inspiration  of  higher  realms  than  those  of  mortality, 
and  by  researches  into  those  realms  through  all  the 
aids  which  man's  spiritual  endowments  could  supply 
him  with. 

Spiritual  as  well  as  material  science  was  ransacked 
in  search  of  truth.  Practice  and  theory  were  deemed 
equally  essential  for  the  formation  of  just  opinions,  and 
from  the  profoundest  depths  of  the  earth's  centre  to  the 
sublimest  heights  of  astral  systems,  from  the  force 
which  crystallizes  the  diamond  to  that  which  is  supposed 
to  rarefy  the  finest  realms  of  ether,  these  philoso- 
phers continued  to  explore  the  universe  in  search  of 
absolute  truth.  They  were  all  Spiritualists  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  term,  and  their  sessions  were  invariably 
composed  of  spiritual  as  well  as  earthly  searchers. 
They  were  not  ashamed  of  aspirational  worship,  never 
felt  their  manhood  lowered  by  the  act  of  prayer,  nor 
did  they  disdain  to  acknowledge  their  dependence  on 
higher  beings  than  themselves,  nor  abstain  from  solicit- 
ing their  protection  and  inspiration.  They  believed  in 
sacred  places  and  consecrated  things,  and  whilst  they 


364  GHOST  LAND. 

esteemed  and  cultivated  scientific  knowledge  as  the 
highest  aim  of  the  human  mind,  they  ever  subordinated 
the  mind  to  the  soul,  and  deemed  that  spiritual  science 
must  be  the  complement  to  material  science,  and  with- 
out the  union  of  the  two,  the  body  and  soul  of  true 
knowledge  could  not  subsist.  Neophytes  on  first  en^- 
trance,  indeed  so  long  as  it  was  deemed  desirable^  were 
appointed  teachers,  who  in  private  sessions  rendered 
them  all  the  instruction  and  assistance  they  required. 
Such  a  teacher  was  assigned  to  me,  and  if  I  had  gained 
no  other  advantage  in  this  admirable  fraternity,  I  should 
forever  feel  indebted  to  its  leaders  for  procuring  me  the 
life-long  friendship  of  Nanak  Hai,  the  noble  Brahmin 
to  whose  learning,  piety,  and  manhood  the  charge  of 
my  initiatory  studies  was  assigned. 

During  the  many  subsequent  years  of  steady  friend- 
ship that  have  subsisted  between  Nanak  and  myself,  I 
have  never  known  him  to  utter  a  word  or  perform  an 
act  unworthy  of  the  most  exalted  saint  in  the  Christian 
calendar.  What  model  religionist  can  transcend  such 
a  spotless  record?  Soon  after  my  admission  to  the  fra- 
ternity of  which  I  write,  I  became  selected  as  one  of 
their  adepts,  an  office  I  endeavored  to  excuse  myself 
from  accepting,  on  the  ground  of  inevitable  absorption 
in  other  duties  and  too  frequent  absence  from  the  places 
of  assemblage.  The  latter  objection  was  overruled  in 
a  mode  which  impels  me  to  record  the  fact  of  my  elec- 
tion to  the  position  of  adept.  I  was  induced  to  accept 
the  nomination,  after  having  occupied  the  seventh 
throne  spiritually,  on  three  occasions  when  my  body 
lay  sleeping  at  a  distance  of  several  hundreds  of  miles 
from  the  scene  of  assemblage.  If  my  readers  shrink 
from  this  acknowledgment  in  utter  or  even  partial 
disbelief  of  its  veracity,  I  can  only  say  they  have  not 


GHOST  LAND.  365 

as  yet  crossed  the  threshold  of  that  temple  which 
initiates  them  into  a  knowledge  of  then*  own  souls' 
powers  and  forces. 

They,  like  me,  are. immortal  spirits,  infinite  in  capacity, 
boundless  in  power.  The  only  horizon  which  limits  the 
executive  functions  of  their  spirits  is  not  so  much  the 
clog  and  fetter  of  a  material  body,  as  the  lack  of  knowl- 
edge how  to  control  and  subdue  that  body.  So  long  as 
that  body  is  entirely  subjected  to  the  will  by  abstinence, 
asceticism,  chastity,  and  discipline,  it  is  a  mere  fleshly 
vehicle,  enabling  the  soul  to  come  into  contact  with  mat- 
ter. The  moment  the  sway  of  the  passions  or  even  the 
mental  emotions,  compels  the  spirit  to  yield  to  the  im- 
pulses of  the  body,  the  spiritual  reign  is  ended,  and 
henceforth  the  spirit  exercises  only  a  temporary,  broken, 
and  spasmodic  rule  over  its  own  transcendent  faculties, 
just  as  w  material  conditions  "  are  favorable  or  otherwise 
for  that  exercise.  I  candidly  present  my  own  case  in 
evidence  of  both  positions. 

When  I  was  first  elected  to  the  supreme  power  of  an 
adept  in  the  nameless  fraternity  alluded  to  in  this  chap- 
ter, I  was  a  spirit  rather  than  a  man,  in  the  world,  but 
not  of  it.  Every  function  of  humanity  was  subordi- 
nated to  the  power  of  my  soul  and  its  spirit  allies,  and 
I  scarcely  realized,  in  the  midst  of  all  life's  active  duties 
and  pressing  cares,  that  my  mortal  body  was  more  to 
me  than  the  garments  I  put  on  and  off  at  pleasure.  I 
do  not  contend  for  the  naturalness  or  reasonableness 
of  such  a  condition;  I  only  claim  it  is  possible  and  attain- 
able, and  I  dwell  upon  it  the  more  forcibly  to  illustrate 
the  complete  subversion  of  those  exalted  powers  when, 
a  few  short  years  later,  the  wear  and  tear  of  human 
passion  and  passionate  emotion  had  enveloped  my  spirit 
and  its  exalted  transcendentalism  in  robes  of  mortality 


366  GHOST  LAND. 

more  dense  and  clinging  than  the  garments  which  now 
shelter  me.     Be  it  so! 

Perhaps  the  highest  perfection  of  the  soul  hereafter 
can  only  be  attained  through  a  complete  realization  of 
the  pathetic  words,  w  He  was  a  man  of  sorrows."  Per- 
haps the  Magdalene  shall  win  her  way  to  the  kingdom 
more  readily  than  the  dainty  lady  who  never  sinned 
because  she  was  never  tempted.  In  the  touching  le- 
gend of  the  Christian  God's  crucifixion,  the  penitent 
thief  will  surely  gain  that  Paradise  which  the  Pharisee 
seeks  in  vain.  And  yet  I  would  have  gladly  lived  and 
died  a  spiritual  ecstatic,  but  the  Lord  of  life  had  willed 
it  otherwise. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

OF  OCCULTISM:  ITS  USES  AOT>  ABUSES. 

THE  progress  of  my  narrative  brings  me  to  a  period 
during  which  the  unhappy  land  of  Hindostan  seemed  to 
have  had  a  moment's  breathing-time  granted  her  in  the 
midst  of  ever-accumulating  intestine  and  foreign  calam- 
ity. It  was  during  one  of  those  seasons  of  false  peace 
and  hollow  truce  that  have  occasionally  lifted  the  war 
demon's  hand  from  the  bleeding  breast  of  hapless  India 
that  I  found  leisure  to  cultivate  systematically  the  teach- 
ings which  exalted  my  soul  to  the  gods  of  antiquity 
and  brought  me  into  communion  with  the  holy  beings 
that  would  fill  our  world  with  the  tracks  of  angels,  did 
we  not  drive  them  back  with  the  work  of  devils. 

Almost  the  happiest  hours  of  my  life  were  those 
devoted  to  the  sessions  of  the  glorious  Brotherhood,  of 
whose  teachings  I  have  given  a  slight  and  most  imper- 
fect sketch  in  the  preceding  chapter.  So  long  as  the 
influence  of  those  seances  was  upon  me  I  felt  as  if  I  had 
been  living  with  gods,  angels,  and  spirits,  and  as  I  grew 
more  and  more  familiar  with  the  sublime  ideas  they 
opened  up  to  me,  I  became  reconciled  to  the  chaotic 
present  and  hopeful  for  the  inevitable  future.  Still,  I 
realized  then,  as  I  do  now,  when  I  recall  those  ecstatic 
communings  derived  from  the  heaven  of  heavens,  that 
they  measurably  unfitted  me  for  earth,  and  rendered  a 
return  to  its  spoliation  and  licentiousness  weary  and  dis- 


368  GHOST  LAND. 

tasteful  to  me.  Yet  I  knew  it  was  my  lot  to  return,  ay, 
and  to  take  an  earnest  and  active  part  in  the  terrible  era 
that  impended,  —  a  dance  of  death  more  gaunt  and  grim 
than  any  that  had  of  late  desolated  the  doomed  land  of 
the  Orient.  I  knew  too,  by  the  force  of  that  prophetic 
nature  which  is  the  ban  as  well  as  blessing  of  its  posses- 
sor, that  there  was  an  episode  in  my  life  to  be  passed 
through  of  a  totally  different  character  to  any  that  had 
preceded  or  could  follow  it,  and  though  these  monitions 
could  neither  be  banished  nor  modified,  they  did  not 
enable  me  to  avoid  the  breakers,  or  steer  my  life's  barque 
out  of  the  stormy  sea  that  threatened  to  wreck  it.  Our 
holy  seances  had  closed  for  the  time  being.  The  mystic 
Bygas,  the  noble  Brahmins,  and  the  associated  brothers, 
many  of  them  strangers  from  distant  lands,  must  all  sep- 
arate, and  depart  each  on  their  several  ways.  The  bright 
angels  who  ministered  amongst  us  would  wing  their  way 
hence  to  fairer  though  none  the  less  worshipful  scenes. 
The  attendant  spirits  would  rise,  by  virtue  of  their 
labors  in  our  behalf,  another  round  higher  on  the  ladder 
of  progression,  whilst  the  solemn  crypts  of  the  ancient 
temples  would  become  silent,  deserted,  given  up  to  the 
desolation  which  falls  upon  every  thing  and  every 
creature  where  life  has  been  and  life  is  not. 

Of  the  throng  that  had  assembled  in  our  subterranean 
temple  to  partake  of  the  sublime  teachings  there  imparted, 
all  were  scattered  like  the  snows  of  a  past  winter,  save 
my  Brahminical  friend,  Nanak  Rai,  and  myself.  In  our 
departure  from  the  neighborhood  of  Ellora  we  were 
accompanied  by  Capt.  Graham,  a  young  Scotchman 
whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  some  years  before  while 
travelling  with  Professor  von  Marx,  and  whom  I  had 
subsequently  encountered  wandering,  like  myself,  amidst 
the  stupendous  cave  temples.  Some  years  had  elapsed 


GHOST  LAND.  369 

since  we  first  met,  and  time  had  worked  great  changes 
in  us  both,  yet  we  immediately  recognized  each  other, 
and  gladly  renewed  an  acquaintance  which  had  already 
ripened  into  friendship. 

In  his  own  country  Capt.  Graham  was  an  habitue  of 
the  best  society,  not  only  on  account  of  his  birth  and 
connections,  but  also  for  the  sake  of  his  amiable  man- 
ners, genial  disposition,  and  cultivated  intellect.  With 
a  remarkably  handsome  person,  the  clear  blue  eye  and 
ruddy  complexion  of  his  Highland  progenitors,  this 
young  officer  united  qualities  of  mind  and  physique 
which  endeared  him  to  all  who  knew  him.  The  speci- 
alty which  first  attracted  him  to  me  was  his  strong 
sympathy  with  my  spiritualistic  pursuits,  and  the  fact 
that  he  was  gifted  with  the  peculiar  faculty  of  what 
the  Scotch  call  w  second-sight."  Having  obtained  a 
short  furlough,  he  had  left  his  regiment  at  Allahabad 
in  order  to  make  a  visit  to  the  famous  cave  temples 
at  Ellora,  where  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  meet  him 
and  become  useful  in  guiding  him  through  the  intri- 
cacies of  the  wonderful  ruins  with  which  I  was  myself 
familiar. 

I  perceived  that  he  was  no  subject  for  our  association, 
the  existence  of  which  he,  like  thousands  of  others  who 
trod  over  the  very  ground  which  our  halls  of  meeting 
undermined,  was  profoundly  ignorant  of.  Still  I  found 
him  eager  and  yearning  for  metaphysical  knowledge, 
and  an  apt  student  in  that  school  of  philosophy  wherein 
Nanak  Hai  was  an  especial  proficient.  I  presented  him, 
therefore,  to  that  learned  Brahmin,  happy  in  realizing 
the  treasures  of  wisdom  which  the  young  neophyte 
would  receive  from  such  an  admirable  instructor.  And 
these  were  the  two  esteemed  companions  who  journeyed 
with  me  to  Benares,  where  the  Brahmin  resided  and 

24 


370  GHOST  LAND. 

near  which  I  had  made  for  myself  a  temporary  abiding- 
place.  Although  there  was  nothing  in  our  external  cir- 
cumstances to  create  a  bond  of  association  between  the 
young  Scotch  officer  and  myself,  I  have  said  it  was  the 
season  of  rest  and  treacherous  lull  in  the  political  life 
of  hapless  Hindostan;  there  was  therefore  nothing  to 
disturb  the  interchange  of  the  most  kindly  relations 
between  us,  or  mar  the  interest  with  which  we  entered 
upon  the  discussion  of  abstruse  points  in  occultism  and 
metaphysics  whilst  he  remained  my  guest.  It  was  dur- 
ing a  conversation  of  this  character,  as  we  lay  beneath 
the  luxuriant  shadows  of  a  clustering  palm-grove  smok- 
ing fragrant  cheroots,  that  my  friend  with  some  hesita- 
tion began  to  question  me  concerning  the  occult  powers 
of  certain  fakirs  whom  I  entertained  in  my  establish- 
ment. 

It  was  only  after  a  considerable  amount  of  circumlo- 
cution that  I  ascertained  the  drift  of  his  questioning, 
and  found  that  he  wished  to  learn  how  far  the  magical 
acquirements  attributed  to  these  ecstatics  could  be  made 
available  in  procuring  the  love  of  the  opposite  sex.  At 
first,  I  treated  the  subject  with  the  contempt  and  indif- 
ference which  I  felt  it  merited;  but  when  I  found  Capt. 
Graham  was  not  only  in  deep  earnest,  but  actually  pro- 
posed to  avail  himself  of  the  power  which  he  was  so 
curiously  seeking  to  understand,  I  became  considerably 
startled,  and  asked  him,  bluntly  enough,  I  suppose,  how 
it  was  possible  that  a  man  of  his  fine  mind  could  pro- 
pose to  avail  himself  of  arts  so  unworthy  and  for  pur- 
poses so  base.  Fixing  his  clear  blue  eyes  upon  me,  and 
without  any  show  of  resentment  for  the  unintentional 
severity  of  my  rebuke,  he  said,  f?  My  dear  Chevalier,  do 
you  believe  that  the  exercise  of  any  powers  with  which 
nature  endows  us  is  wrong?  " 


GHOST  LAND.  371 

'That  all  depends  upon  the  purpose  for  which  we 
employ  our  powers,"  I  replied. 

"  Granted,"  he  answered ;  "  but  suppose  nature  has 
endowed  me  with  strong  psychological  powers,  would 
you  doem  it  a  base  and  unworthy  act  if  I  exerted  them 
to  induce  a  return  of  affection  from  the  woman  I  love?" 

w  I  can  see  nothing  unnatural  or  objectionable  in  that, 
Graham." 

"  Again  you  grant  the  only  position  I  contend  for," 
said  my  friend.  "Then,  wherein  can  the  wrong  exist 
of  adding  to  the  powers  with  which  nature  has  endowed 
me,  occult  powers  of  a  still  stronger  kind?  that  is,  pro- 
vided the  purpose  be  the  same,  and  that  I  only  seek  to 
secure  the  affection  of  the  woman  I  love." 

*  Does  she  whom  you  love  fail  to  return  your  affec- 
tion?" 

"Just  so." 

"  And  you  would  compel  her  to  do  so,  even  against 
her  will?" 

"  I  would  bend  that  will  to  my  own,  Chevalier ;  and  if 
I  could  succeed,  do  you  deem  me  capable  of  misusing 
my  advantage?  I  desire  to  marry  a  woman  whom  I 
cannot  as  yet  succeed  in  inspiring  with  my  own  devo- 
tion. Could  I  do  so,  how  should  I  wrong  her  by  spend- 
ing my  life  in  ministering  to  her  happiness  ?  " 

"Graham,"  I  answered,  "if  you  yourself  were  an 
ascended  spirit,  freed  from  all  the  gross  desires  and  self- 
ishness of  earth;  in  a  sphere  of  higher  and  holier  aspi- 
rations than  earth  ever  engendered;  would  you  devote 
your  exalted  powers  to  satisfy  the  promptings  of  a 
merely  sensual  human  passion?" 

"  By  heavens,  Chevalier !  "  replied  my  friend,  starting 
up  and  pacing  the  ground  in  great  agitation,  "  I  never 
thought  of  the  matter  in  such  a  light.  Why,  the  very 


372  GHOST  LAND. 

idea  of  asking  blessed  spirits  to  engage  in  such  a  work, 
as  you  present  it,  is  blasphemy." 

"I  am  answered,  Graham;  but  where  does  your  con- 
fession lead  you  to?  Do  you  not  perceive  that  you 
rule  out  the  intervention  of  good  spirits  in  the  acts 
under  consideration?  and  if  this  be  so,  what  class  of 
beings  do  you  suppose  would  be  attracted  to  your  ser- 
vice or  willing  to  aid  in  your  enchantments?  " 

'  Wicked  spirits,  of  course,  or  if  not  actually  wicked, 
still  beings  of  a  less  exalted  grade  than  I  could  desire 
companionship  with;  but,  my  friend,  you  know  there  are 
powers  inherent  in  ourselves,  occult  forces,  too,  in  na- 
ture, which  could  achieve  the  end  desired  without  the 
aid  of  spirits.  You  yourself,  Chevalier,  have  often 
proved  your  resistless  power  of  will  and  ability  to 
bend  the  will  of  others  to  your  desire.  Why  cannot 
I  use  a  similar  influence  to  impress  the  object  of  my 
affections  with  sentiments  of  reciprocity?" 

f  You  have  constantly  tried  to  do  this?  " 

"I  have." 

"  And  without  success  ?  " 

«  Entirely  so." 

5?  Then  you  have  simply  proved  what  I  have  so  often 
told  you  concerning  the  conditions  which  may  interpose 
to  hinder  the  effect  of  psychological  impressions." 

>?  Will  you  not  repeat  the  substance  of  your  theory?" 

"I  believe  my  will,  clothed  with  the  force  of  my 
magnetism,  which  is  LIFE,  powerful  enough  to  remove 
mountains,  provided  there  be  no  intervening  obstacle 
between  the  current  of  my  magnetism  and  the  moun- 
tain I  would  act  on.  You  can  compel  whom  you  will 
to  love,  hate,  or  obey  you,  irrespective  of  distance  or 
material  obstacles,  provided  there  be  no  cross  magnet- 
ism intervening  between  you  and  your  object,  no  more 


GHOST  LAND.  373 

powerful  will  than  your  own  operating  against  you;  in 
that  case,  your  will  must  be  thwarted  and  the  currents 
of  your  magnetism  will  be  dissipated  in  space." 

"  But  how  can  I  be  aware  of  this,  or,  knowing  its 
probability,  how  prevent  it?  " 

'  You  can  but  take  your  chance.  "We  are  not  yet 
clairvoyant  enough  to  be  masters  of  every  situation  we 
would  experiment  with.  Be  assured  these  baffling 
cross  magnetisms,  projected  from  a  thousand  sources 
unknown  to  us,  are  the  causes  of  the  many  failures 
which  occur  in  just  such  cases  as  yours.  Successes  are 
most  frequent  when  the  operator  is  potential  or  electri- 
cally positive,  and  the  subject  is  passive  and  negative. 
Such  is  the  relation  sustained  by  that  worst  and  meanest 
of  all  criminals,  the  licentious  seducer,  towards  his  vic- 
tim. He  projects  his  foul  psychology  upon  a  negative 
and  wholly  unguarded  subject.  Those  around  her, 
probably  unsuspicious  of  her  danger,  exert  no  counter- 
acting influence,  no  cross  magnetism  to  thwart  his :  the 
result  is  the  subjection  of  the  weak  to  the  strong,  the 
passive  to  the  negative,  an  angel  perhaps,  to  a  devil 
assuredly." 

w  I  must  accept  your  positions,"  replied  Graham.  "  I 
know  you  have  often  claimed  sovereign  potency  for  the 
will,  and  yet  urged  the  reasons  just  assigned  why  it  is 
so  successful  in  some  instances,  and  so  inoperative  in 
others.  Be  it  so.  I  must  abandon  two  contingent 
resources  then,  —  the  aid  of  good  spirits  and  the  exercise 
of  psychological  power;  but  is  there  nothing  left  for 
me, — no  medicaments  in  the  realm  of  Nature,  no  spells, 
enchantments,  or  talismans  whereby  her  occult  power 
may  be  exerted  for  my  benefit?  I  know  I  shock  you, 
my  friend; 'you  will  despise  if  not  hate  me  for  these 
questionings,  to  me  so  importunate,  to  you  so  lowering 


374  GHOST  LAND. 

and  contemptible.  But,  Chevalier,  remember  you  do 
not  love,  you  never  did  love,  nor  can  you  know  what 
that  name  means.  Oh!  believe  me,  love  is  stronger 
than  death,  more  cruel  than  the  grave.  All  else, — wit, 
wisdom,  piety,  learning,  hope  of  heaven  or  fear  of  per- 
dition, pale  before  the  strength  of  this  giant  passion ; 
but  I  see  I  speak  to  empty  air:  you  can  not  understand 


me." 


'You  are  mistaken,"  I  replied,  kindly  pressing  my 
poor  friend's  hand,  and  addressing  him  in  the  most 
sympathizing  tone  I  could  command.  "I  can  and  do 
understand  you,  although  no  mortal  has  ever  yet  moved 
me  to  the  master  passion;  but  the  day  will  come,  Gra- 
ham, when  I  shall  be  thus  moved;  nay,  more,  when  I 
shall  love,  as  you  do  now,  in  despair  and  hopelessness, 
in  life-long  endurance  and  silent  misery ;  and  yet  I  would 
despise  myself  and  renounce  my  art,  did  I  deem  it  pos- 
sible I  could  be  induced  to  use  it  for  the  unholy  purpose 
of  captivating  the  woman  I  prophetically  know  I  shall 
be  doomed  to  love  in  vain." 

"You  love  in  vain!  you,  Chevalier!"  exclaimed  my 
friend  with  equal  naivete  and  amazement.  w  Nay,  that  is 
impossible." 

c  Your  partiality  makes  you  egotistical  for  your  friend, 
Graham,  neither  do  you  justly  estimate  the  character 
of  woman  in  her  noblest,  highest  phases.  What  I  tell 
you  is  the  truth,  and  though  I  have  never  yet  seen  her 
of  whom  I  prophesy,  except  in  spirit,  I  know  she  is  not 
of  the  class  who  give  men  occasion  to  boast  of  their 
too  easy  conquests.  The  women  who  are  marketable 
commodities  are  only  worthy  of  the  men  who  buy  them. 
For  every  true  man  in  creation  there  is  a  woman  who 
should  be,  nay,  who  must  be  and  is,  his  angel  side. 
One  such  I  shall  fail  to  win  on  earth,  but  gain  in 


GHOST  LAND. 

heaven ;  but  let  us  return  to  your  last  proposition,  con- 
sulting together  as  students  of  occultism,  rather  than 
as  men  striving  to  win  the  affections  of  women  by  ,/y^ 
aid  of  impure  arts.  Charms,  spells,  and  enchantments 
depend  for  their  success  on  the  aid  of  spirits  and  psy- 
chological impression.  I  have  already  endeavored  to 
show  you  that  the  spirits  who  could  or  would  assist  in 
such  rites  are  unholy,  and  in  obtaining  their  aid  you 
would  league  yourself  to  them  in  such  relations  that 
when  you  become  like  themselves  a  spirit,  you  would 
find  yourself  bound  to  them  in  the  chains  of  a  magnetic 
rapport  which  would  be  horrible  to  endure  and  difficult 
to  break.  We  have  already  considered  the  chance  of 
success  or  failure  in  psychological  impression:  what 
other  art  would  you  inquire  about?  " 

•?You  have  not  answered  me  concerning  the  effect 
of  charms  and  talismans,  Chevalier.  Is  their  alleged 
potency  only  an  idle  fiction?" 

"See  this  handkerchief,  Graham;  it  was  but  yesterday 
taken  from  the  bazaar:  what  virtue  inhered  in  its  fabric 
as  it  lay  exposed  for  sale?" 

"  Surely,  none  that  I  know  of." 

"As  you  say,  none.  But  supposing  you  were  to 
place  it  now  in  the  hands  of  a  sensitive  or  psychometrist, 
you  would  find  my  character  and  physique,  nay,  my 
very  motives  and  the  most  secret  intentions  of  my  mind 
impressed  upon  its  every  fibre,  is  it  not  so?" 

?  We  have  proved  the  possibility  of  such  soul  read- 
ings. Go  on." 

"Supposing,  then,  I  should  add  to  the  magnetism 
which  already  adheres  to  this  fabric,  some  strongly 
concentrated  idea,  wish,  or  purpose:  do  you  not  sup- 
pose that  idea,  wish,  or  purpose  would  also  be  detected 
there?  and  would  not  that  voluntary  impression  of  my 


376  GHOST  LAND. 

mind  upon  this  inanimate  substance  constitute  it  a 
talisman?" 

*  Talismanic  virtue  is  no  fiction,  then,"  cried  Graham, 
triumphantly. 

"Be  patient,"  I  replied.  w  Before  we  speculate  further 
upon  the  possibility  of  effecting  your  purpose  through 
any  occult  means,  let  me  lay  before  you  the  general 
effect  of  such  procedures;  you  may  then  be  better  en- 
abled to  determine  the  worth  of  what  you  propose. 
You  think  I  do  not  understand  the  nature  of  human 
love.  Philosophically  speaking,  I  comprehend  it  better 
than  you  do.  Love,  or  the  motive  so  called,  is  gener- 
ally one  of  three  impulses :  The  first  is  '  magnetic  affin- 
ity,' or  a  movement  of  the  material  atoms  which  com- 
pose the  human  body,  and  these  being  brought  into  the 
presence  of  another  set  of  atoms  for  which  they  have  a 
strong  affinity,  impress  upon  their  subject  that  powerful 
sense  of  attraction  which  is  commonly  called  love.  I 
insist  that  the  emotion  I  describe  is  magnetic  affinity 
only,  and  corresponds  to  the  chemical  affinity  which 
exists  between  inanimate  atoms  of  nature.  The  differ- 
ence between  the  two  modes  of  attraction  is  this,  how- 
ever. Chemical  affinities  in  atoms  are  permanent  and 
changeless.  If  you  separate  the  atoms,  they  still  main- 
tain their  affinities,  and  when  placed  in  the  same  rela- 
tions again  will  manifest  the  same  attractions;  but 
magnetic  affinities  are  not  permanent.  Their  special 
attribute  is  change,  and  their  attractions  are  merely  tem- 
porary, soon  wearing  out,  and  when  once  exhausted, 
never  renewed.  The  chemical  affinity  which  subsists 
between  sulphur  and  gold  will  ever  be  the  same.  It 
existed  ten  thousand  years  ago,  and  will  be  as  manifest 
ten  thousand  years  hence  as  now;  but  the  magnetic 
attractions  which  draw  the  libertine  to  the  fair  face  of 


GHOST  LAND.  377 

his  victim  almost  invariably  end  in  depolarization;  then 
ensues  coldness,  neglect,  indifference,  followed  by  dis- 
like and  even  loathing ;  hence  it  is  that  many  intrigues 
based  upon  mere  passional  attraction,  have  ended,  ay, 
and  will  again,  in  the  intense  repulsion  which  impels  the 
seducer  even  to  the  murder  of  his  victim.  Believe  me, 
it  is  not  in  idle  fantasy  that  the  phrenologist  associates 
the  cranial  organs  which  impel  to  licentiousness  and 
destructiveness  in  close  proximity  to  each  other.  The 
demons  of  lust  and  murder  are  twin  brothers,  and  fol- 
low on  each  other's  track,  from  the  law  of  which  I 
speak.  The  swing  of  the  mental  pendulum  which 
prompts  the  one  carries  the  mind  to  the  other  extreme, 
and  thus  accounts  for  the  aversion  which  so  often  suc- 
ceeds the  excess  of  violent  and  unbridled  passion." 

"Admirable,  my  dear  philosopher!"  cried  poor  Gra- 
ham, almost  excited  to  mirth  by  my  grave  analysis  of  a 
passion  which  he  still  insisted  could  only  be  known 
experimentally.  ?  You*  have  given  me  case  ]STo.  1 ;  now 
for  your  secondly.  What  sort  of  a  phase  is  that,  may  I 
ask?" 

w  Oh !  secondly,  is  not  love  at  all,"  I  replied.  "  It  is 
simply  friendship,  and  as  such  it  may  be  an  excellent 
basis  of  union  between  man  and  woman,  far  more  likely 
also  to  remain  a  permanent  sentiment  than  any  evanes- 
cent passion ;  still,  it  is  not  love,  and  those  who  unite 
upon  such  a  foundation,  although  restrained  from  infi- 
delity to  each  other  by  principle,  may  yet  experience 
emotions  of  love  for  others." 

*  Very  good!  I  am  with  you  there.  Friendship  be- 
tween husband  and  wife!  Pshaw!  just  the  same  as 
between  man  and  man.  I  may  and  do  feel  the  warmest 
sentiments  of  friendship  for  you,  Chevalier,  yet  I  do  not 
wish  to  marry  you,  however  I  might  feel  if  you  were  a 


378  GHOST  LAND. 

woman.  No,  no,  my  Mentor!  friendship  is  not  love,  of 
that  I  am  quite  certain;  but  now  for  your  No.  3.  Ah, 
you  sigh!  I  almost  begin  to  imagine  you  are  more 
committed  than  you  choose  to  acknowledge.  No? 
Well,  that  emphatic  shake  of  the  head  is  your  con- 
fession, and  I  must  wait  until  I  see  you  stricken  down 
as  I  am;  but  come,  I  long  to  hear  about  your  No.  3. 
"What  is  it,  I  pray?" 

w  It  is  soul  affinity,  Grahain, — the  realization  that  man 
and  woman  have  no  actual  existence  apart  from  each 
other;  that  they  are,  in  fact,  counterparts,  without  which 
their  separate  lives  are  imperfect  and  unformed.  Life 
is  dual,  Graham,  and  love,  true  soul-love,  is  the  bond 
of  union  which  reunites  the  severed  parts.  It  exists 
independent  of  personal  charms  or  mental  acquirements. 
It  annihilates  self  and  selfishness;  prefers  the  beloved 
object  beyond  all  adventitious  acquirements;  subsists 
through  sickness  or  in  health,  through  good  or  evil 
report,  lives  for  the  one  beloved,  dies  and  realizes 
heaven  only  in  the  union  which  death  may  interrupt 
but  cannot  sever.  Divine  spiritual  affinity  survives 
death  and  the  grave,  unites  the  two  halves  of  the  one 
soul,  and  in  eternity  perfects  the  dual  nature  of  man 
and  woman  into  the  one  angel." 

"  Chevalier,"  replied  my  friend,  "  if  you  have  not  yet 
loved,  you  deserve  to ;  and  thrice  blessed  will  she  be  who 
can  secure  to  herself  the  affection  you  thus  describe. 
That  heavy  sigh  again !  Why,  you  will  compel  me  pres- 
ently to  believe  you  are  the  rejected  one,  and  I  the 
happy  lover.  But  come,  my  Socratic  and  Platonic 
friend,  you  have  not  yet  informed  me  what  effect  I 
might  expect  from  the  love  potions,  philters,  or  other 
approved  methods  of  magical  art,  of  which  your  famous 
fakirs  are  the  expert  professors." 


GHOST  LAND.  379 

"My  fakirs  are  occultists,  Graham,  not  Vaudoo  charm- 
ers, nor  would  they  be  mine  much  longer  if  Vaudooism 
were  amongst  their  practices ;  but  to  recur  to  your  ques- 
tion: I  answer;  though  the  use  of  certain  drugs,  vapors, 
or  other  physical  means  might  produce  a  temporary 
excitement  in  the  person  upon  whom  they  were  exer- 
cised, nevertheless,  like  psychology  or  other  arts  of 
enchantment,  the  effect  is  but  temporary.  They  can 
impress,  but  not  create  the  will;  arouse  passional  attrac- 
tion, but  not  permanent  sentiment.  They  excite  illusions, 
cast  spells,  induce  impulses,  but  their  transitory  effects 
are  always  followed  by  depolarization  and  revulsive 
reaction,  in  which  antipathy  sets  in  as  proportionably 
strong  as  the  attraction  was  violent." 

"I  see  it  all,"  cried  my  poor  friend.  *You  are  a 
severe  teacher,  but  I  believe  a  truthful  one;  besides,  our 
mutual  experiences  assure  me  you  are  correct.  I  would 
ha  ye  risked  my  life  and,  Heaven  forgive  me!  perilled 
my  very  soul  to  secure  the  love  of  her  I  adore,  but  the 
bare  possibility  that  she  who  now  tolerates  me  might 
one  day  learn  to  loathe  me  is  too  terrible  to  risk.  It  is 
enough.  There  is  no  hope  for  me.  And  now,  Chevalier, 
the  very  lowest  depths  of  my  weakness  having  been  laid 
open  before  you,  let  us  return  to  our  occultism.  You 
say  it  is  the  magnetism  and  psychology  impressed  on 
an  object  which  impart  to  it  talismanic  virtue:  are 
there,  then,  no  natural  talismans  in  nature?" 

w  Thousands  and  millions,  Graham,  had  we  but  the 
clear  sight  to  discern  them.  There  are  myriads  of  herbs 
and  stones  fall  of  virtue  to  heal,  gladden,  or  sadden  us; 
objects  which  can  and  do  affect  the  senses  and  impress 
the  spirit;  links  of  connection  between  the  visible  and 
invisible  worlds ;  and  those  who,  with  sapient  self-suffi- 
ciency, scoff  at  these  occult  forces  in  nature  and  think  - 


380  GHOST  LAND. 


to^extinguish  faith  in  them  by  the  bugbear 
/  stition,'  are  themselves  the  dunces,  rather  than  those 
who  unwittingly  believe  without  being  able  to  prove 
their  belief." 

"  O  my  friend!  "  cried  the  enthusiastic  young  Scotch- 
man, "  why  will  you  not  lead  me  into  those  realms  of 
occult  power?" 

w  Because  I  am  not  there  myself,  Graham,"  I  replied. 
ffl  have  as  yet  only  stood  upon  the  threshold  and 
glanced  down  the  endless  corridors  of  the  invisible  uni- 
verse. I  know  such  things  are.  Some  of  their  powers 
and  dangers  I  have  tested,  but  only  enough  to  warn  and 
encourage  me  in  yet  deeper  researches." 

"  You  know  enough,"  replied  Graham,  "  to  explain  to 
me  what  talismanic  influence  is  impressed  upon  this 
object." 

As  he  spoke  he  drew  from  his  vest  a  small  package 
which  he  put  into  my  hand,  but  even  as  he  did  so  he 
started  with  astonishment  and  dismay  at  the  effect  his 
talisman  produced  upon  me.  Had  the  deadly  cobra 
stung  me,  I  could  scarcely  have  experienced  a  pang 
more  poignant.  Something  unconquerably  antagonistic 
to  my  nature  was  contained  in  that  package.  The  face 
and  form  of  a  very  beautiful  woman  rose  up  before  me, 
but  the  most  loathsome  dwellers  on  the  threshold  of 
humanity  that  ever  drove  the  neophyte  back  from  the 
country  of  the  elementaries  would  have  been  more 
sympathetic  to  me  than  this  terrible  visionary  woman. 
Almost  breathless  with  emotion,  I  poured  out  to  my 
friend  a  hurried  description  of  the  portrait  —  for  such  I 
knew  it  to  be  —  that  I  held  in  my  hand,  and  the  effect 
that  it  produced  upon  me,  and  then  the  feeling  of  antip- 
athy gave  place  to  an  irrepressible  passion  of  grief  as 
humiliating  to  myself  as  inexplicable  to  my  friend. 


GHOST  LAND.  381 

Meantime  doleful  shapes  flitted  before  my  eyes,  wail- 
ing sounds  were  in  the  air,  and  a  sorrow  as  profound 
as  unaccountable  weighed  me  down  and  impelled  me  to 
push  away  my  sympathizing  companion  and  bury  my 
face  in  the  sheltering  grass  ere  I  could  regain  com- 
posure. Rebuked,  indignant,  and  amazed  to  find  myself 
the  sport  of  such  incomprehensible  emptions,  I  at  length 
succeeded  in  freeing  my  clenched  hand  from  the  odious 
package,  which  I  returned  to  Graham,  entreating  him  to 
keep  from  me  all  such  influences  in  future.  He  listened 
to  and  watched  me  with  evident  pain  as  well  as  interest. 
He  said  that  I  was  correct  in  my  description  of  the  beau- 
tiful female  whose  portrait  was  enclosed  in  that  package, 
but  why  her  image  should  be  associated  with  such  pres- 
ages of  sorrow  and  excite  sentiments  of  antipathy  in  his 
best  friend  he  was  at  a  loss  to  conceive. 

"  Graham,"  I  exclaimed,  as  we  arose  to  separate,  "  if 
that  portrait  represents  the  woman  you  love,  thank  your 
guardian  angel  that  your  enchantments  have  failed. 
Better  wind  around  your  neck  the  slime  of  the  boa-con- 
strictor than  the  arms  of  that  fatal  woman." 

"Chevalier  de  B ,"  cried  the  young  Scotchman, 

in  high  wrath,  "you  shall  answer  for  this!"  Then 
returning,  and  grasping  my  hand  which  he  had  just 
flung  from  him,  he  murmured  in  his  usually  affec- 
tionate manner,  "Forgive  me,  Louis,  I  am  a  half- 
dazed  fool,  I  know,  and  as  to  you  —  why,  you  are 
only  a  mystic." 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

THE   ANGEL   OF  MORNING. 

THE  sun  of  Hindostan  compels  a  reversal  of  many 
of  the  social  customs  which  obtain  in  Europe,  promi- 
nent amongst  which  is  that  of  turning  night  into  day, 
an  arrangement  which  the  higher  classes  of  European 
society  establish  on  the  basis  of  inclination,  but  which 
in  India  becomes  the  law  of  necessity,  provided  we 
would  maintain  the  activities  of  life  without  the  contin- 
gency of  melting  out  before  the  duties  of  the  day  are 
fully  achieved. 

Graham  and  myself  had  parted  after  an  11-o'clock- 
p.  M.  dinner,  and  high-noon  coffee  at  twelve.  Towards 
the  sweet  hour  of  dawning,  when  both  of  us  had  retired 
to  the  spacious  halls  which  in  Europe  we  are  accus- 
tomed to  call  "bedrooms,"  but  which  in  this  tropical 
land  simply  signify  the  place  of  sleep,  or  the  scene  of 
the  day's  long  siesta,  after  the  conversation  recorded  in 
the  last  chapter,  I  sat  speculating  on  the  singular  influ- 
ence which  my  friend's  talisrnanic  package  had  exerted 
over  me;  on  the  wonderful  calm  of  the  holy  moonlight, 
lighting  up  the  sacred  Ganges,  which  washed  the 
descending  flight  of  steps  that  led  from  the  terrace  out- 
side my  chamber  to  the  river's  brink;  on  the  silver- 
tipped  minarets,  domes,  towers,  and  metallic  ornaments 
of  temples,  pagodas,  palaces,  and  fanes  that  everywhere 
sparkled  with  mild  and  softened  lustre  in  the  pale  moon- 


GHOST  LAND.  383 

light;  on  the  mystery  of  the  beyond;  the  life,  the  death, 
the  everlasting  progress,  perhaps  the  everlasting  sleep, 
of  the  very  power  by  which  I  speculated!  Everything 
assumed  a  new  idea  beneath  the  transfiguring  light  of 
the  soft  and  holy  queen  of  heaven;  every  idea  took  a 
personal  shape  beneath  the  influence  of  the  same  tran- 
quillizing power.  Suddenly  I  felt  that  a  new  presence 
was  near  me.  In  the  vast  and  spacious  apartment  which 
I  occupied,  the  moonlight,  the  only  lamp  I  permitted 
that  night,  failed  to  penetrate  the  farthest  point  or  deep- 
est recesses ;  it  only  cast  its  radiant  halo  on  a  circle  of 
which  I  was  myself  the  centre  as  I  lay  on  a  divan  placed 
between  the  open  glass  doors  which  led  out  on  the  terrace 
overhanging  the  river.  I  knew  a  fresh  presence  was  in 
my  apartment,  though  no  sound  of  footfall  broke  the 
stillness  and  no  shadow  as  yet  streamed  over  the  pol- 
ished floor,  yet  it  came  on,  threaded  its  way  amongst 
the  groups  of  statuary  scattered  through  the  place,  lin- 
gered near  the  tubs  of  orange-trees  and  other  tropical 
shrubs  and  plants  that  formed  arcades  on  every  side, 
and  now  approached  me,  penetrated  the  circle  of  moon- 
light in  which  I  lay,  passed  noiselessly  around  the 
divan,  and  standing  between  me  and  the  pillars  which 
supported  the  veranda  without,  disclosed  to  me  the 
shrouded  form  and  cowled  head  of  the  Byga  of  Ellora, 
Chundra  ud  Deen. 

"My  father  comes  at  last,"  I  said,  rising  to  receive 
him.  "  He  is  indeed  welcome." 

The  Byga,  for  the  first  time  during  the  many  occasions 
that  we  had  met,  extended  his  hand  to  me.  He  had 
never  before  touched  me;  nay, he  had  evidently  avoided 
such  contact,  nor  did  I  wonder  at  it,  for  now  I  took  his 
hand  in  mine  it  was  as  cold  as  death,  and  sent  a  chill 
through  every  fibre  of  my  frame. 


384  GHOST  LAND. 

w  My  son  has  become  my  brother !  "  said  the  Byga,  in 
his  sweet,  low  voice  and  Tamul  accent.  "  He  is  now  an 
adept  like  Chundra.  "What  can  Ud  Deen  tell  him  more 
than  he  knows?" 

w  Much,  much ! "  I  exclaimed  passionately,  and  forget- 
ting, in  my  desire  to  become  a  pupil  again,  all  the  self- 
possession  and  immobile  reserve  which  belonged  to  my 
character  as  a  fellow-adept.  Let  it  be  understood  that 
I  did  not  marvel  at  this  man's  unexpected  presence,  nor 
venture  to  comment  on  it. 

During  my  attendance  at  the  sessions  of  the  Ellora 
Brotherhood,  I  knew  Chundra  ud  Deen  was  one  of  the 
adepts.  I  believe  he  was.  an  occupant  of  the  seventh 
throne  only.  I  knew  he  came  and  went  like  a  spirit.  I 
had  visited  him  in  his  mountain  home,  but  never  could 
realize  with  external  sense  how  I  reached  or  left  that 
giddy  height.  I  had  never  seen  his  face  or  touched  him 
until  that  night;  never  understood  who  or  what  he  was, 
save  as  one  who  came  between  me  and  the  light,  when, 
where,  and  how  he  would,  —  no  more. 

"What  would  you  ask,  Louis?"  he  said;  and  O 
Heaven !  how  the  sound  of  that  name,  grown  unfamiliar 
in  my  ears,  thrilled  on  my  heart,  pronounced  by  that 
stranger ! 

It  was  forbidden  to  the  neophytes,  though  not  to  the 
adepts  of  the  Ellora  Brotherhood,  to  converse  with  each 
other  on  the  teachings  they  received.  From  this  prohi- 
bition both  Chundra  and  myself  were  exempt;  hence,  I 
knew  I  was  at  liberty  to  press  upon  him  many  of  the 
spiritualistic  problems  that  now  disturbed  me.  Had  I 
not  understood  how  perfectly  the  power  of  transmitting 
thought  could  be  practised  amongst  us,  I  should  have 
been  startled  to  find  every  question  I  designed  to  put 
anticipated  and  dealt  with,  even  where  it  was  not  fully 


GHOST  LAND.  385 

met  by  my  associate,  ere  I  had  framed  it  into  speech. 
In  the  mental  contest  between  us  I  placed  myself  in  the 
negative  relation  to  my  respondent,  hence  for  the  time 
being  he  read  and  mastered  me.  We  could  have  reversed 
this  position,  but  we  could  not  both  maintain  the  same 
attitude  towards  each  other.  As  my  questionings  on 
this  occasion  refer  to  what  I  have  since  learned  to 
be  common  problems  amongst  spiritists,  and  he  who 
answered  me  did  so  upon  sufficient  authority,  I  will 
here  transcribe  such  portions  of  the  dialogue  that  ensued 
as  may  be  of  general  interest  to  the  reader.  (  I  inquired  A 
I  why  the  spirits  who  appeared  to  me,  or  at  times  mani-  l 
''  fested  proofs  of  their  identity  with  my  deceased  friends, 
could  not  give  me  more  philosophy,  higher  intelligence,  4 
and  above  all,  a  more  perfect  description  of  their  lives 
in  spiritual  existence. ) 

Chundra  replied  as  follows:  "You  are  constantly  im- 
pressed with  a  morbid  anxiety  to  relieve  that  class  of 
mendicants  whom  you  imagine  to  be  suffering  from  hun- 
ger, you  are  often  warned  that  the  objects  of  your 
solicitude  are  unworthy ;  but  the  thought  that  any  human 
being  may  be  suffering  from  hunger,  transports  you  into 
fanatical  acts  of  alms-giving.  Is  it  not  so?" 

My  readers  must  pardon  me  for  recording  the  above 
remarks,  which  referred  to  a  specialty  of  mine,  induced, 
as  I  well  know,  by  my  vivid  recollection  of  the  agony 
which  hunger  inflicted  upon  me  in  early  life,  rendering 
me  painfully  sensitive  on  the  subject,  and  ready  to  com- 
mit any  act  of  extravagance  rather  than  endure  the 
sight  of  any  human  being  wanting  food. 

He  continued,  "^ow,  what  would  you  say  if  on  earth, 
as  in  spirit  life,  you  found  that  every  time  you  had 
bestowed  alms  on  a  necessitous  fellow-creature,  a  flowei 
had  spontaneously  blossomed  in  your  garden?" 


386  GHOST  LAND. 

rfT  should  require  to  understand  the  connection  be- 
tween my  act  and  the  flower,"  I  replied. 

c  You  are  a  successful  soldier,"  he  continued,  "and 
the  men  under  your  command  have  been  efficient  on  the 
battle-field.  Suppose  I  were  to  tell  you  that  for  every 
drop  of  blood  you  have  shed,  or  caused  to  be  shed,  one 
of  those  blossoms  engendered  by  your  charity  would 
fade  and  wither  away?"  I  started.  "  Three  days  ago," 
he  resumed,  "  you  entertained  a  party  of  friends  at  your 
dinner-table.  Supposing  your  real  thoughts  at  the  time 
had  been  known,  how  much  would  your  guests  have 
enjoyed  your  hospitality?" 

Again  I  felt  committed.  At  the  time  of  which  he 
spoke,  I  had  the  most  intense  desire  to  be  at  another 
place,  and  wished  my  visitors  anywhere  rather  than  at 
my  own  table. 

w  Last  night,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  you  were  present 
at  an  entertainment.  How  would  you  have  felt  had  you 
seen,  as  you  would  have  done  in  spirit  land,  the  beauti- 
ful lady  who  smiled  on  you  so  graciously,  assuming  to 
all  who  approached  her  the  appearance  of  a  deadly 
snake,  and  your  royal  host  wearing  the  semblance  of  a 
ferocious  tiger?  Look  around  you!  Yon  forms  of 
stone  which  your  imagination  connects  with  the  gods  of 
antiquity  and  the  inspiration  of  prophets,  magicians, 
and  hierophants,  —  how  would  you  endure  to  gaze  upon 
them  and  repose  in  their  midst,  should  they  suddenly 
present  to  you  all  the  crimes,  obscenities,  follies,  and 
errors  committed  by  countless  generations,  in  the  at- 
mosphere which  has  swept  over  those  images,  impress- 
ing them  with  every  shape,  thought,  motive,  or  act 
with  which  that  atmosphere  was  charged?  These  walls 
now  adorned  with  works  of  art, — how  would  you  like  to 
see  them  displaying,  as  they  would  in  spirit  land,  every 


GHOST  LAND.  387 

act  of  your  life,  your  most  secret  thoughts,  hidden  mo- 
tives, and  concealed  wishes?  All  grimly  hideous  or 
gracefully  beautiful,  no  matter  which?  Could  you 
endure  this?  You  were  thinking  a  while  ago  of  a 
return  to  Europe.  Could  you  comprehend  how  you 
could  be  there  by  the  simple  impulse  of  your  will,  and 
that  without  steamboats,  cars,  horses,  chariots,  or  other 
known  means  of  transit?  Could  you  understand  how 
you  might  stand  beneath  arcades  of  waving  trees,  fra- 
grant blossoms,  and  sunlit  skies,  yet  another  stand  by 
your  side  and  converse  with  you,  immersed  in  a  pelt- 
ing storm,  blown  about  by  fierce  winds,  or  surrounded 
by  desolation,  barren  wastes,  and  darkness  that  could 
be  felt?" 

?  You  speak  to  me  in  enigmas,  Chundra,"  I  exclaimed. 

"And  yet  I  speak  of  the  actualities  in  which  your 
spirit  friends  live,  Louis.  All  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
transpires  each  moment  in  the  spirit  world  and  form 
the  experiences  of  the  spirits  that  visit  you.  Their 
gardens  are  planted  by  good  t  deeds  and  destroyed  by 
bad ;  their  banquets  are  spread  and  dissipated  by  con- 
ditions of  mental  growth  and  moral  excellence;  their 
images,  pictures,  houses,  cities,  trees,  flowers,  roads, 
mountains,  rivers,  scenery, — ay!  all  that  they  have  or 
gaze  upon,  are  not  only  written  over  and  inscribed  with 
their  acts,  thoughts,  words,  and  characters,  but  are 
absolutely  formed,  shaped,  and  colored  by  their  soul 
emanations.  They  go  and  come  by  mental  power  and 
intellectual  activity  only.  They  build  and  destroy  under 
conditions  of  mental  and  moral  achievement,  of  which 
no  human  speech  can  convey  an  idea.  You  have  vis- 
ited their  spheres,  seen,  heard,  and  felt  the  truth  of 
much  that  I  now  touch  upon,  and  yet  you  are  confused, 
bewildered,  and  incredulous  at  what  I  say.  You  would 


388  GIIOST  LAND. 

ask,  too,  Is  there,  then,  nothing  real  in  spiritual  existence? 
Are  all  things  seeming  only,  —  spirit  life  but  shadows? 
Louis,  if  I  confuse  and  bewilder  you  in  attempting  to 
image  forth  some  of  the  conditions  of  spirit  life,  and 
you  begin  to  doubt  the  reality  of  anything  in  a  state 
of  being  far  more  real  than  your  own,  how  do  you 
expect  your  spirit  friends  could  converse  intelligibly 
with  you,  or  find  'topics  of  common  interest  with  which 
to  converse  about,  except  such  as  belong  to  the  earth 
they  have  left?  Do  you  not  see  there  is  no  common 
ground  for  the  interchange  of  thought  between  spirits 
and  mortals?  Nothing  would  be  comprehensible  to 
you  of  their  existence,  whilst,  except  for  your  sake,  the 
life  they  have  left  behind  has  lost  all  interest  for  them. 
Man  knows  nothing  but  what  he  has  absolutely  experi- 
enced, although  he  may  believe  much  more  than  he, 
knows  through  reading  and  hearsay,  yet  even  then 
he  can  not  appreciate  anything  that  he  has  not  at  some 
time  or  other  had  connection  with,  or  realized  through 
similitude  or  kindred  knowledge.  Mortals  impatiently 
demand  information  concerning  spiritual  existence.  You 
might  as  well  talk  to  the  African  savage  of  telegraphy 
and  electricity,  or  declare  what  the  microscope  and  tele- 
scope reveal  to  the  aborigines  of  Australasia,  as  to  ask 
your  spirit  friends  to  explain  to  you  the  conditions, 
employments,  and  aspirations  of  the  state  of  being  to 
which  they  have  attained." 

'*  Why  this  new  spiritual  movement  which  is  now  pal- 
pitating through  the  world  then,  Chundra?  this  evi- 
dently systematic  attempt  of  the  spirit  world  to  commune 
with  mortals,  which  is  now  so  spontaneously  planting 
its  standards  through  every  land  of  civilization?" 

"Humanity J^UST^MOVE^^  "It  is 

ordained  that  the  world  must  at  length  attain  to  a  true 


GHOST  LAND.  389 

understanding  of  spiritual  existence,  and  that  the  fic- 
lions  of  vain  theological  beliefs  shall  disappear. 

"Physical  science  has  conducted  the  race  up  to  the 
threshold  where  spiritual  science  commences.  Louis, 
you  know  that  in  this  generation  is  the  opening  of  the 
sixth  seal.  There  is  yet  another  to  be  broken.  Be  in 
no  haste.  God  can  wait:  shall  not  his  creatures  do  so 
likewise?" 

'  The  trance  mediums  of  whom  John  Dudley  writes 
such  glowing  accounts  from  America  and  England, — 
they  profess  to  be  inspired  by  earth's  great  ones  and  to 
give  accurate  accounts  of  that  spirit  land,  to  describe 
which  you  and  I  find  human  speech  so  inadequate." 

?  They  are  sensitives,  magnetized  by  spirits,  and  give 
such  teachings  as  the  world  is  able  to  receive.  Fancy 
the  most  abstruse  problems  of  Euclid  reduced  to  the 
comprehension  of  the  child  who  has  just  begun  to  study 
his  multiplication  table,  and  you  have  by  analogy  ^a 
description  of  the  spirit  land,  as  it  comes  filtered  through 
the  lips  of  magnetized  somnambules,  in  phrases  adapted 
to  the  comprehension  of  children  studying  earth's  mul- 
tiplication tables.  As  to  the  great  names,  so  long  as  the 
world  depends  upon  the  authority  of  great  names,  great 
names  will  be  in  the  mouths  of  those  who  are  as  much 
magnetized  by  their  auditors  as  by  the  spirits  who  laboi 
only  to  give  such  meat  as  their  audiences  require." 

"But  all  this  is  deception,  Chundra,  and  unworthy  of 
a  great  religious  movement." 

'*  The  world  must  grow,  Louis,  and  Spiritualism  is  one 
of  its  means  of  growth.  Do  you  inquire  how  your  bread 
is  made?  Perhaps  you  would  never  consume  another 
morsel  if  you  were  fully  answered.  Yet  you  grow  and 
are  sustained  by  the  result,  let  the  details  be  what  they 
may.  This  modern  movement  is  but  the  chaotic  reflec- 


390  GHOST  LAND. 

tion  of  the  ignorance,  bigotry,  credulity,  and  material- 
ism of  the  age.  Still  it  is  the  first  step  towards  breaking 
the  seals  of  that  apocalyptic  age  that  is  even  now  upon 
us.  This  step,  too,  is  the  most  necessary  of  all  that  are 
to  follow.  Man  will  advance  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
spiritual  realms,  the  elementaries  will  advance  nearer  to 
man;  and  all  creation,  moving  upwards,  hinges  on  the 
first  step;  this  inauguration  of  the  new  and  breaking  up 
of  the  old  order.  Be  patient !  " 

"  Chundra, "  I  said,  anxious  to  share  my  thoughts 
with  some  one  who  could  understand  me,  w  last  month 
I  visited  a  village  community  who  were  tormented  with 
a  Bhuta.  *  The  honest  people  deemed  the  disturbances 
they  suffered  from  were  all  caused  by  the  spirit  of  an 
evil  woman,  a  reputed  sorceress,  who  had  lived  amongst 
them,  but  who  had  been  set  upon  and  murdered  by 
Bheels  under  the  charge  of  having  bewitched  their  chil- 
dren. Directly  after  this  wretched  woman's  death,  their 
own  children  were  waylaid,  beaten,  and  spit  upon  by 
invisible  powers.  Their  cattle,  property,  and  houses 
were  injured,  and  their  clothes  torn  and  destroyed. 
Shrieks,  cries,  groans,  and  knockings  filled  their  dwell- 
ings and  drove  them  nearly  frantic.  The  poor  villagers 
had  performed  faithfully  all  the  ceremonies  of  exorcism 
and  propitiation  which  they  deemed  necessary,  but  with- 
out effect;  and  when  I  visited  them,  the  'Headman'  of 
the  village  was  in  despair,  and  the  Brahmins  they  had 
hired  to  perform  the  rites  of  exorcism  were  despatched 
for  a  still  larger  and  more  powerful  band  to  help  them. 
I  saw  the  JBhuta  clairvoyantly,  and  by  suffering  myself 
to  enter  the  somnambulic  condition  I  could  return  with 
her  to  her  spiritual  captivity. 

*The  Polter  Gheist  or  ghost  that  throws;  the  haunting  spirit  of  an  evil 
or  ill-disposed  mortal.  — ED.  GHOST  LAND. 


GHOST  LAND.  391 

"I  found  her  in  the  country  of  the  worst  and  most 
evil-minded  of  the  elementaries  who  belong  to  the 
lower  conditions  of  earth,,  but  she  did  not  know  any 
difference  between  them  and  multitudes  of  wicked 
and  degraded  human  spirits  who  had  been  attracted 
there  likewise.  The  habitations  of  these  wretched 
beings  were  in  a  dark,  desolate  land.  Their  cities 
were  formed  of  piles  of  cinders,  ashes,  and  the  wrecks 
of  worlds.  Their  occupation  was  to  fashion  machinery 
and  implements  of  war  as  models  for  mortals  whom 
they  were  compelled  to  inspire  with  constructive  or 
inventive  ideas  in  this  particular  department  of  mechan- 
ical skill ;  but  the  elementaries  of  this  sphere  were  all 
too  rudimental  in  conception  to  succeed  in  their  work. 
They  never  made  anything  complete;  they  could  not 
achieve  a  single  form  right,  and  yet  they  felt  the  influ- 
ence and  inspiration  of  higher  orders,  who  did  succeed 
in  modelling  ideas  into  complete  shape ;  and  these  poor 
embryos  would  therefore  keep  on  trying  and  trying 
until  they  died,  and  progressed  to  a  sphere  of  greater 
completeness  and  higher  power.  But  many  amongst 
them,  in  frantic  haste  and  passion,  destroyed,  broke,  and 
burned  up  their  abortive  models. 

w  I  learned  it  had  only  been  in  a  recent  period  of  time 
that  they  had  tried  to  make  anything,  and  that  in  future 
they  were,  the  best  of  them,  destined  to  succeed  inim- 
itably. I  wandered  over  their  blighted,  doleful  land  in 
many  districts;  found  they  delighted  to  attract  human 
spirits,  however  evil,  to  them,  because  it  enabled  them 
to  come  into  closer  rapport  with  humanity;  and  though 
they  worked  mischief  and  rejoiced  in  helping  human 
spirits  to  annoy  and  haunt  mortals,  they  learned  much 
in  their  contact  with  earth,  and  would  ultimately  im- 
prove. It  seemed  strange  to  me  to  see  that  the  human 


392  GHOST  LAND. 

spirits  who  gravitated  there  did  not  understand  the 
difference  between  themselves  and  the  elementaries,  so 
nearly  did  they  resemble  each  other.  All,  alas!  were 
stamped  with  the  characteristics  of  fierce  and  destruc- 
tive animals,  and  some,  although  strictly  human,  resem- 
bled the  loathsome  reptiles  with  whose  passions  they 
had  sympathy.  I  was  told  that  the  demands  of  earth 
inspire  these  lower  worlds  with  inventive  ideas.  The 
rude  and  half-fashioned  instruments  they  construct  are 
man's  thoughts  in  embryo ;  hence,  when  I  saw  these  poor 
antitypes  of  humanity  clumsily  trying  to  draw  swords 
through  ungovernable  fires,  and  found  cannon  amidst 
mountains  of  cinders  piled  up  to  the  black  skies,  I 
lamented  that  I,  amongst  others,  had  ever  used  or 
required  for  use  weapons  of  offence  and  missiles  of  war. 
If  the  demands  of  our  bad  passions  stimulate  these 
lower  worlds  to  answer  us,  what  a  mighty  responsibility 
rests  upon  us,  who  are  to  the  elementaries  what  the 
realms  of  angelic  inspiration  are  to  us !  " 

"Did  these  wretched  beings  see  your  spirit,  Louis, 
and  how  did  they  receive  you?" 

:c  They  could  not  see  me,  but  they  felt  my  presence, 
and  they  were  impelled  to  acts  of  worship  although  in 
rags  and  ruin,  and  knelt  amidst  their  wrecked  world  and 
addressed  my  spirit  as  a  god.  They  could  not  aspire 
to  any  existence  higher  than  the  soul  of  a  pitying  mor- 
tal, and  my  presence  amongst  them  was  both  felt  and 
signified  by  spirit  lights.  They  wept  as  they  prayed, 
and  as  I  prayed  myself,  the  Bliuta  became  inspired  and 
preached  to  them.  She  uttered  my  thoughts,  though  not 
my  words, — perhaps  like  the  world's  trance  mediums. 
I  left  them  so,  for  I  was  recalled  to  the  earth,  but  I  have 
heard  since,  that  the  disturbances  in  the  haunted  village 
have  ceased,  and  all  is  peace  there  again.  Chundra,  if 


GHOST  LAND.  393 

mortals  were  better  informed  concerning  the  condition 
of  these  f  hells/  could  they  not  elevate  the  miserable 
dwellers  there,  and  thus  save  the  race  of  men  from 
their  evil  influence,  their  promptings  to  wrong  and 
mischief  breathed  through  the  atmosphere,  and  the 
failures  which  humanity  makes  through  abortive 
effort?" 

The  Byga  silently  pointed  to  a  pair  of  pistols  lying 
on  a  table  near  me,  and  my  sword  laid  across  a  divan. 

"  So  long  as  you  demand  those  instruments  of  destruc- 
tion," he  said,  in  a  low  but  impressive  tone,  "poorer, 
more  necessitous,  and  less  responsible  beings  will  make 
capital  out  of  the  demands  of  their  superiors.  Louis 

de  B ,  assure  yourself  the  universe  moves  en  masse. 

One  redeemed  soul  in  any  department  of  being  pushes 
creation  forward  everywhere,  whilst  one  who  sinks, 
sinks  a  host  with  him.  Let  those  who  preach,  point  the 
way  by  practice.  Creation's  road  is  onward,  not  down- 
ward. Man  must  sooner  or  later  learn  to  recognize  and 
acknowledge  the  existence  of  other  worlds  above,  be- 
iieath,  and  around  him  besides  his  own;  when  he  does, 
his  knowledge  will  warn  him  that  there  are  legions  of 
beings  who  rise  or  fall  with  him.  Meantime,  the  puri- 
fication even  of  one  human  soul  is  triumph  enough 
for  a  lifetime,  for,  as  you  say,  it  is  in  the  realms  of  evil 
and  mischievous  elementaries  that  the  hells  of  humanity 
are  found.  Elevate  the  one  class  of  being,  and  your 
work  will  create  g  heart-throb  throughout  the  whole  dark 
realms  of  being." 

"Chundra,  you  who  know,  tell  me  who  is  Metron?" 

w  A  chief  amongst  the  elementaries  who  correspond 
to  the  electric  and  magnetic  forces  generated  in  the 
Arctic  and  Antarctic  circles.  These  regions  form  the 
brain  and  feet  of  the  living  earth,  and  sustain  vast 


394  GHOST  LAND. 

realms  of  elementary  beings  who  correspond  to  the 
prevailing  influence  and  quality  of  their  locale.  They 
derive  their  peculiarly  magnetic  temperaments  from 
the  regions  they  inhabit,  and  react  upon  those  regions 
by  filling  them  with  the  immense  activity  of  their  own 
magnetic  natures.  Metron  is  a  prince  amongst  these 
radiant  elementaries. 

w  Is  he  himself  an  elementary?  " 

:f  Not  so ;  he  is  a  spirit,  a  tutelary  spirit,  even  as  the 
Eloihim  of  the  ancient  cabalists  were  princes  or  rulers 
in  different  departments  of  creation.  You,  as  a  caba- 
list,  should  understand  that  regions,  countries,  nations, 
planets,  and  even  the  individuals  who  reside  upon  their 
surfaces,  are  under  the  guardianship  of  special  tutelary 
spirits,  of  whom  Metron,  himself  a  planetary  angel,  is 
a  type." 

"  I  do  understand  this,  and  should  be  as  poor  a  caba- 
list  as  my  Christian  brothers,  did  I  fail  to  recognize  the 
doctrine  of  tutelary  spirits  and  guardian  angels.  The 
Christians  might  find  this  doctrine  fully  and  even  elab- 
orately taught  in  their  own  Scriptures,  especially  in  the 
books  of  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and  the  Apocalypse.  I  find 
it  in  the  Oriental  as  well  as  the  Jewish  cabalas,  believe, 
and  fully  realize  it;  but  that  which  perplexes  me  is  the 
strange  fantasy  that  possesses  me  of  a  similarity  be- 
tween the  radiant  Metron  and  that  most  beloved  friend 
of  my  soul,  Felix  von  Marx.  Sometimes  I  have  half 
imagined  Metron  might  be  his  transfigured  spirit,  but 
again  I  have  endeavored  to  banish  this  idea,  lest  it 
should  lead  me  into  the  realms  of  fanaticism  and  hallu- 
cination." 

"Resemblances  in  the  spiritual  kingdom  are  not  those 
of  the  physical  form,  but  mental  similitudes.  Every 
tutelary  angel  rules  over  realms  of  being  imbued  with 


GHOST  LAND.  395 

special  mental  or  moral  qualities,  as  well  as  certain  re- 
gions of  space,  and  all  great  leading  minds  in  the  spirit 
spheres  form  the  nucleus  of  circles  whose  harmony  of 
thought  or  purpose  creates  a  similitude  of  appearance. 
On  earth  the  wheat  and  the  tares  are  grown  together, 
and  all  classes  of  mind,  morals,  and  estate,  are  hetero- 
geneously  gathered  into  that  vortex  of  life  called  "  so-  ,A* 
ciety,"  or  grouped  together  into  nationalities. 

"In  the  spiritual  kingdom,  Death  the  harvest-angel, 
separates  the  wheat  from  the   tares,  and   ranges 


, 

specialties  which   mark   human  character  on   earth  or 
conditions  of  progress  in  eternity,  each  in  their  special     i^ 
department  of  life;  each  is  garnered  up  in  the  place  and    / 
association  to  which  he   belongs.     Felix  von  Marx,  a  v^ 
profound  student  and  adept  in  the  mysteries  of  vital 
magnetism,  gravitates  as  a  spirit  to  those  spheres  of     ..--• 
thought  which  are  devoted  to  the  occult  in  creation,  but 
especially  does  he  belong  to  the  realms  of  force,  the  mag-  J 
netism  or  life  of  the  universe,  the  all-pervading  element 
whose  grand  reservoir  and  generating  centre  upon  this 
planet  is  governed  by  the  tutelary  angel,  Metron. 

"  Speaking  to  you  in  the  imperfect  verbiage  of  human 
speech,  Felix  von  Marx  is  one  of  the  legionaries  in  those 
realms  of  elementary  life  of  which  Mefron  is  the  prince, 
hence,  he  partakes  of  the  similitude  which  pervades  his 
sphere  of  being.  Artists,  poets,  sculptors,  musicians, 
inventors,  all  classes  of  mind  whose  aggregate  makes 
up  the  order  and  harmony  of  creation,  gravitate  to 
special  spheres  on  their  first  entrance  to  the  realms  of 
spiritual  existence  ;  and  until  they  have  ranged  through 
all  departments  of  the  universe  and  mastered  all  its 
separate  elements,  you  see  them  grouped  into  circles, 
presided  over  by  tutelary  spirits  of  their  own  order,  and 
attracted  to  realms  of  thought  where  their  peculiar  char- 


396  GHOST  LAND. 

acteristics  find  the  grander  fields  of  culture  and  expres- 
sion which  spirit  life  affords  to  the  graduates  from  earth." 

"  But  Metron  is  the  tutelary  angel  of  the  -elementaries, 
not  of  human  spirits." 

Of  all  minds,  human,  elementary,  mortal  or  immortal, 
who  are  attracted  to  the  kingdom  in  which  he  rules. 
"Look  to  the  north  when  the  pencilled  glory  of  the 
Boreal  lights  are  flaming  through  the  evening  skies! 
Look  to  the  silent  finger  of  the  magnetic  compass  point- 
ing out  the  mariner's  path  through  the  boundless  wastes 
of  ocean,  yet  ever  faithful  to  the  invisible  polar  brain 
of  the  earth,  fixed  in  the  Arctic  regions !  Look  to  the 
growing  tree,  the  springing  grass,  the  shooting  flower, 
throbbing  with  the  silent  influence  of  the  all-pervading 
spirit  of  life.  Watch  mankind's  thronging  millions, 
whirled  through  space  with  a  force  which  would  suffice 
to  throw  off  from  the  earth's  surface  every  particle  of 
matter  into  unmeasured  space,  yet  gravitation  suffices 
to  attach  all  living  forms  to  that  surface,  enabling  them 
to  move  upon  it  without  the  slightest  sense  of  insecu- 
rity. The  glorious  lights  of  the  flaming  Aurora,  the 
invisible  power  of  the  magnet,  and  the  potential  fires  of 
life  and  gravitation,  are  all  but  so  many  phases  of  that 
one  mighty  realm  of  force,  generated  in  the  brain 
regions  of  the  polar  North  and  distributed  in  endless 
lines  of  radiation  through  the  system  of  earth  and  its 
freight  of  animate  and  inanimate  kingdoms. 

"Looking  upon  the  order  of  being  throughout  which 
this  stupendous  realm  of  force  is  the  life  principle,  you 
behold  the  kingdom  of  Metron  and  his  legions  of  mag- 
netic elementaries,  whose  station  is  in  the  North,  whose 
sphere  is  the  realm  of  force,  and  whose  legionaries  cor- 
respond to  the  magnetic  and  electric  life  which  courses 
through  every  fibre  of  this  planet. 


GHOST  LAND.  397 

"Although  this  class  of  the  elementaries  are  still 
embryotic  and  unvitalized  by  an  immortal  spirit,  in 
which  all  elementaries  are  lacking,  they  form  a  bright 
and  radiant  grade  of  existence,  with  high  aspirations 
for  knowledge,  goodness,  and  immortality. 

"It  is  a  realm  of  elementary  existence  of  this  char- 
acter which  is  ministered  to  by  Metron,  himself  a  tute- 
lary angel  whose  nature  is  in  harmony  with  those  he 
rules  over,  whose  deepest  sympathies  are  engaged  in 
preparing  them  for  their  ultimate  destiny  as  immortal 
beings,  and  who  leaves  the  celestial  regions  to  which  he 
belongs  to  preach  to  and  teach  these  subordinate  races, 
and  help  them  to  attain  to  his  own  purified  condition." 

-  Why  does  the  presence  of  spirits  and  my  efforts  to 
converse  with  them  always  weaken  me  physically,"  I 
asked,  "when  in  intention  I  would  spend  my  life  in  that 
communion?" 

"Because  spirits  can  not  renew  intercourse  with  earth 
without  borrowing  from  you  the  life  element  by  which 
they  approach  you  and  make  themselves  palpable  to 
your  senses.  They  must  rob  you  of  physical  strength 
ere  they  can  reclothe  their  sublimated  forms  in  material 
pabulum." 

"Will  it  ever  be  so?" 

"  ~No.  As  men  grow  into  spiritual  light  and  knowl- 
edge, they  will  better  understand  the  methods  of  com- 
munion. This  earth  is  full  of  occult  forces;  trees, 
plants,  herbs,  stones,  minerals,  vapors,  gases,  and  fluids 
are  all  teeming  with  magnetism.  To  comprehend  these 
forces,  draw  them  forth  and  apply  them,  was  the  art  of 
the  ancient  magian,  and  will  be  the  next  phase  of  science 
which  humanity  will  achieve.  The  living  forces  of  the 
body  will  then  be  reserved,  and  the  occult  powers  of 
nature  be  substituted  as  a  means  of  communing  with 


398  GHOST  LAND. 

spirits.  Man  will  take  part  in  that  communion,  instead 
of  being  the  mere  passive  instrument  of  beings  whom 
he  does  not  know  or  understand,  and  this  will  be  the 
period  when  spiritual  and  physical  sciences  will  supple- 
ment each  other,  instead  of  being,  as  now,  arrayed  against 
each  other  by  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  of  man. 
The  communion  between  mortals  and  those  spheres  of 
human  spiritual  existence  that  have  as  yet  been  able  to 
manifest  to  mortals,  is  but  a  faint  indication  of  the 
approaches  which  the  earth  is  making  towards  the 
inauguration  of  a  new  era;  a  time  fulfilled,  a  judgment 
passed;  a  dawning  day  of  new  life,  new  light,  new 
heavens,  and  a  new  earth.  Occult  science,  words  which 
at  present  have  but  little  meaning  in  the  ears  of  men, 
must  be  understood,  studied,  and  mastered  ere  humanity 
can  enter  the  temple  of  spiritism,  or  worship  in  spirit 
and  in  truth  that  God  who  is  a  spirit." 

The  Byga  here  made  a  movement  to  go,  but  as  he 
did  so,  he  stretched  out  his  hand  to  me  as  before.  I 
attempted  to  take  it,  but  felt  nothing,  and  shrank  from 
him  in  confusion,  exclaiming,  w  Have  I  lost  my  sense  of 
touch,  or  what  is  this  I  would  clasp?  " 

"As  an  adept  in  occult  science  you  should  know  the 
difference  between  mortal  substance  and  the  still  more 
potential  touch  of  force."  So  saying  he  grasped  my  hand 
with  a  power  that  would  have  imprisoned  me  had  I  been 
a  Titan,  then  releasing  me  as  suddenly,  I  saw  the 
shrouded  form  and  cowled  head  gradually  becoming 
transfigured.  A  dimness  was  on  my  eyes ;  the  walls,  gar- 
dens, terraces,  moon-lit  river,  and  the  distant  city,  with 
its  glittering  domes  and  minarets,  all  seemed  to  be 
whirling  around  me  with  frightful  rapidity;  the  vast 
crystal  vault  of  the  heavens,  with  its  sparkling  lamps 
and  spangled  immensity,  looked  so  close  to  me  that  it 


GHOST  LAND.  399 

might  be  about  to  descend  and  crush  me.  In  the  midst 
of  this  awful  chaos  I  experienced  a  sensation  as  if  I 
were  being  lifted  up  in  the  arms  of  some  being  who  was 
all  force,  and  then  laid  tenderly  on  the  couch  from  which 
I  had  risen  on  the  Byga's  entrance. 

I  became  environed  in  an  atmosphere  of  fire-mist; 
confiscations  of  radiant  lights  flashed  around  me,  a 
mingled  se'ntiment  of  oppression  and  ecstacy  overpow- 
ered me,  and  yet  I  was  able  to  perceive  a  glorious  form 
bending  over  me.  For  an  instant  only  I  beheld  the 
divine  face  of  Metron  gazing  upon  me  with  such  love 
as  only  an  angel  can  feel  for  its  mortal  charge ;  then,  as 
the  blinding  rays  of  light  which  enveloped  him  vanished 
or  faded  out,  I  know  not  which,  the  form  of  my  guar- 
dian spirit,  still  stationary  by  my  side,  still  fixing  its 
eyes  of  tenderest  affection  upon  me,  seemed  to  become 
transfigured,  and  I  beheld  plainly,  distinctly,  and  with 
emotions  of  the  most  profound  calmness,  trust,  and  rest, 
the  noble  form  and  face  of  Felix  von  Marx.  Many 
words  passed  between  us,  words  that  dispelled  the 
mists  of  doubt  and  error  from  my  mind,  soothing  my 
troubled  spirit  with  a  foretaste  of  heavenly  peace  ere  I 
sank  into  a  deep  and  refreshing  slumber. 

If  my  readers  would  know  what  relation  this  vision 
bore  to  the  strange  visitor  whom  I  have  named  "the 
Byga,"  I  am  wholly  unable  to  answer  them.  I  never 
knew  who  or  what  this  njystic  was.  I  never  fully 
understood  why,  in  his  atmosphere,  spirits  could  come 
and  go  like  images  on  the  sensitive  plate  of  the  pho- 
tographer. He  himself,  his  nature  and  relation  to  the 
world  of  the  unseen  around  me,  have  formed  a  part  of 
those  mysteries  which  the  researches  of  a  single  life  or 
a  single  generation  cannot  master.  I  have  often  list- 
ened with  regret  to  statements  purporting  to  emanate 


400  GHOST  LAND. 

from  the  inspiration  of  "  very  high  spirits,"  which  as- 
sumed to  explain  all  the  mysteries  of  spiritual  mani- 
festations, and  that  upon  the  ground  of  material  science 
aifd  secularized  analogies,  simply  ridiculous. 

I  have  read  essays  of  a  similar  character,  claiming  to 
emanate  from  the  most  exalted  dwellers  of  the  spheres, 
and  their  perusal  has  filled  me  with  pain  and  humilia- 
tion. 

In  the  light  of  such  revealings,  the  universe  of  spir- 
itual existence  becomes  a  mere  reflex  of  this  human 
world,  with  all  its  human  conditions,  grovelling  ideas, 
and  limited  if  not  atheistical  views  of  Deity  and  the 
scheme  of  causation. 

To  my  apprehension,  the  spiritual  life  beyond  the 
grave  bears  the  same  relation  to  earth  that  the  life  of 
the  embryo  during  its  period  of  gestation  bears  to  that 
of  the  infant  immediately  after  its  mortal  birth,  —  no 
more.  Looking  back  upon  the  scenes  of  my  own  past 
life,  with  its  various  acts  of  spiritual  intervention,  I 
confess  I  can  only  perceive  through  the  enclosing  mists, 
the  white  hands  of  angels  weaving  the  woof  of  human 
life,  and  feel  the  supporting  arms  of  spirit  guardians 
but  half  revealed.  The  longer  I  live  and  search,  and 
strive  to  gauge  the  infinite  and  eternal  with  finite  senses 
and  temporal  capacity,  the  less  I  find  I  really  know,  and 
the  more  stupendous  appears  to  become  the  ocean  of 
immensity  over  which  I  must  sail  before  I  can  venture 
to  offer  any  chart  of  the  path  I  have  followed  to  those 
who  shall  come  after  me. 

I  have  written  TRULY,  FAITHFULLY  of  the  "  Ghost- 
Land  "  through  which  I  have  been  searching.  The  "  Cas- 
sandras"  of  life  are  never  believed  in,  and  still  they  must 
vaticinate.  Perhaps  it  will  be  so  with  me.  Many  more 
will  scoff  and  sneer  and  disbelieve  than  strive  as  I  have 


ve 


GHOST  LAND.  401 

clone  to  find  the  clue  that  might  explain  my  strange 
experiences.  Flippant  egotism  may  either  deny  them 
altogether,  or  offer  such  silly  and  secular  attempts  at 
explanation  as  deprive  spiritual  life  and  science  of  all 
dignity,  religious  grace,  or  holiness;  but  to  me  it 
becomes  more  and  more  apparent  every  day  that  a 
bridge  of  occult  science  must  span  the  gulf  between 
the  visible  and  invisible  worlds  ere  man  can  venture 
to  say  he  knows  as  he  is  known. 


CHAPTEK    XXII. 

THE  ENCHANTRESS. 

THE  time  was  fast  approaching  when  I  had  resolved 
I  would  make  a  complete  change  in  my  mode  of  life 
and  the  sphere  of  its  action.  Eight  years  had  passed 
away  since  I  left  England,  and  I  had  grown  so  weary 
of  military  life  beneath  the  burning  sun  of  Hindostan, 
that  I  seriously  contemplated  a  change  of  service  which 
would  enable  me  to  return  to  my  own  country  and 
scenes  more  congenial  to  my  early  education.  I  did 
not  venture  to  suggest  these  proposed  changes  to  my 
Hindoo  connections,  who  built  largely  upon  my  contin- 
uance amongst  them,  as  a  means  of  aggrandizing  their 
own  power  and  improving  my  fortunes. 

My  relatives  exalted  my  slight  successes  beyond  their 
true  worth,  and  the  mere  hint  of  my  wish  to  return  to 
Europe  was  met  with  strenuous  opposition.  I  had 
another  object  in  view  too,  and  one  that  was  far  more 
congenial  to  me  than  any  earthly  chances  of  achieving 
fame  or  fortune,  and  this  was  the  prospect  of  soon  com- 
pleting my  term  of  initiatory  probation  in  a  society  of 
extremely  antique  origin,  with  which  it  had  been  my 
passionate  yearning  to  become  affiliated.  It  little  mat- 
ters to  my  readers  where  the  locale  of  this  society  is  to 
be  found,  or  of  what  its  rites  and  exercises  consist. 

The  nineteenth  century  is  perhaps  the  very  coldest 
possible  culmination  of  the  materialistic  philosophy, 


GHOST  LAND, 

which  has  been  growing  up  like  a  fungus  upon  the 
civilization  of  the  last  five  hundred  years ;  so  the  nine- 
teenth century  is  the  last  which  could  appreciate  the 
objects  of  an  association  contemplating  amongst  other 
ideas,  the  reversal  and  obliteration  of  all  theological 
myths,  and  the  inauguration  of  a  true  spiritual  king-, 
dom,  in  which  truth  itself  will  be  the  Bible,  God  the 
high-priest,  ministering  spirits  the  acolytes,  and  occult 
science  the  connecting  link  between  the  past  and  the 
present,  the  spiritual  and  the  natural  world.  The  very 
few  that  in  this  generation  are  fitted  for  affiliation  with 
this  society  will  be  called,  as  I  was,  without  any  pre- 
vious knowledge  of  its  existence;  the  rest  of  the  world 
may  and  will  seek  it  in  vain. 

I  had  been  called,  I  repeat,  and  was  obliged  to  join 
its  ranks,  but  I  had  to  undergo  a  long  and  painful 
series  of  probations  ere  I  could  hope  to  arrive  at  all 
that  that  society  could  confer  upon  me.  I  had  labored 
and  suffered  for  it,  abnegated  self,  and  given  up  for  its 
sake  much  that  renders  life  beautiful,  cheerful,  and 
happy.  I  had  given  up  my  very  body  and  soul  to  gain 
what  I  sought,  and  soon,  very  soon  I  was  to  be  rewarded. 

As  the  time  for  complete  realization  approached,  my 
intense  devotion  to  the  idea  before  me  deepened,  and  it 
was  only  by  a  great  effort  that  I  could  bring  myself  to 
fulfil  the  daily  cares  that  pressed  upon  me,  and  combine 
together  the  meshes  of  the  various  activities  I  had 
undertaken,  so  as  to  be  ready  when  the  time  should 
come  to  devote  myself  wholly  to  the  work  before  me, 
and  quit  the  land  of  Hindostan  without  one  feeling  of 
compunction  for  duties  unfulfilled  or  actions  which  I 
could  look  back  upon  with  regret. 

All  was  progressing  under  my  silent  and  secret  pur- 
pose, when  a  day  arrived,  —  a  day  ever  memorable  to 


404  GHOST  LAND. 

me,  as  that  which  was  to  usher  in  an  episode  of  my  life's 
history,  the  shadow  of  which  I  darkly  felt,  but  the  form 
whereof  I  could  not  discern. 

"My  dear  friend,  I  must  start  for  Calcutta  immedi- 
ately, —  this  packet  of  letters  compels  my  departure 
at  once ;  yet  how  I  grieve  to  leave  you  and  the  delight- 
ful quarters  you  have  afforded  me,  I  can  never  fully 
express." 

*  Wait  till  to-night,  Graham,  and  I  shall  be  your  trav- 
elling companion  to  Calcutta,  for  thither  I  too  must  go 
as  soon  as  possible." 

This  was  the  conversation  that  passed  between  myself 
and  my  friend  Graham  at  our  breakfast-table,  as  we  sat 
reading  our  letters  on  the  day  which  succeeded  the  visit 
recorded  in  the  last  chapter.  Besides  the  business  mat- 
ters which  summoned  me  to  Calcutta,  I  found  a  strong 
impelling  motive  in  a  letter  just  received  from  my 
esteemed  friend,  John  Dudley,  but  one  which  for  some 
unexplained  reason  I  ought  to  have  had  many  months 
before.  By  a  perusal  of  its  contents  I  learned  that 

Mr.  Dudley  had  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  D , 

in  consequence  of  the  demise  of  the  intervening  heirs. 
His  elevation  to  the  peerage  was  entirely  unexpected, 
and  seemed  to  have  had  no  effect  in  changing  the 
hearty  and  affectionate  cordiality  of  my  friend's  char- 
acter, nor  had  it,  as  he  emphatically  assured  me, 
wrought  any  alteration  in  the  feelings  of  his  "dear 
girls,  except  some  little  astonishment  at  their  awakening 
one  fine  morning  to  hear  themselves  called  the  Ladies 
Sophia  Edith,  and  Blanche."  He  frequently  alluded  to 
his  experiences  amongst  the  Spiritualists  of  America; 
his  unquenched  enthusiasm  for  "  the  cause, "  and  his 
abiding  faith  that  I  should  keep  my  promise  and  revisit 
his  family  at  the  expiration  of  ten  years  from  the  time 


GHOST  LAND.  405 

of  my  departure.  He  reminded  me  that  the  ten  years 
would  soon  elapse  now,  adding  that  I  should  have  a 
good  excuse  for  returning  to  England,  were  it  only  to 
escort  back  his  best-beloved  child,  the  Lady  Blanche 
Dudley,  who,  as  he  informed  me,  had  been  induced  to 

accompany  her  aunt,  Lady  Emily  E ,  to  India  for  a 

visit  of  two  years.     Lady  Emily,  the  sister  of  the  new 

Countess  of  D ,  had,  in  my  absence,  espoused  her 

cousin,  the  Viscount  R ,  whom  I  should  remember, 

said  the  writer,  "  as  a  sour,  unspiritual  relative  "  of  his 
family,  one  between  whom  and  the  Dudleys  no  great 
intimacy  had  ever  been  maintained.  My  friend  con- 
tinued thus :  "  ]^ow,  Emily  was  just  one  of  the  best  and 
most  genial  of  human  beings,  besides  being  a  capital 
medium,  which  is  better  than  all,  you  know.  What 
under  the  sun  could  induce  this  dear  sister-in-law  of 
mine  to  wed  a  prig  of  a  Scotch  viscount,  and  a  Pres- 
byterian to  boot,  none  can  say  except  those  who  are 
more  versed  in  the  mysteries  of  womankind  than  I  am. 
"The  fact  is,  I  suppose,  poor  Emily  grew  tired  of 
lone  widowhood,  and  as  my  lord  was  appointed  to  a 
high  position  in  India,  and  offered  my  dear  relative 
a  handsome  establishment  and  all  the  privileges  of 
Begwnship,  etc.  etc.,  the  thing  was  too  much  for  the 
aforesaid  womankind,  and  dear  Emmy  consented  to 

become   the   Viscountess   R and  depart  with  her 

yellow-visaged  spouse  to  India  forthwith.  But  that 
is  n't  the  whole  or  the  worst  of  it,  Louis.  Would  you 
believe  it?  They  have  actually  carried  my  little  Blanche, 
the  very  ?  light  of  my  harem '  and  the  apple  of  my  eye, 
along  with  them.  Of  course  you  will  wonder  how  such 
a  miracle  could  have  come  about,  and  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  I  have  not  got  over  my  own  astonishment  in  the 
matter,  even  now  that  she  has  been  gone  — my  precious 


4:06  GHOST  LAND. 

darling !  more  than  two  months.     All  I  can  do  is  to  tell 
you  the  way  the  thing  came  round. 

"Emily  received  a  splendid  settlement  in  her  marriage, 
and  as  she  is  not  very  likely  to  bring  her  noble  spouse 
any  heirs,  she,  with  his  full  consent,  offered  to  adopt  my 
Blanche  as  her  heiress,  provided  she  were  permitted  to 
accompany  her  aunt  on  her  two  years'  mission  to  Cal- 
cutta. You  know  that  Blanche  was  always  her  aunt's 
favorite,  as  she  was  mine  and  everybody  else's.  Well, 
I  don't  know  how  they  arranged  it  all,  but  they  made 
out  that  as  my  two  boys  would  have  the  bulk  of  the 
estate,  and  the  girls  had  but  little  prospect  beyond 
slim  settlements,  or  rich  marriages,  of  course  this  offer 
of  my  lady  the  viscountess  was  far  too  magnificent  to 
be  slighted.  Thus  they  got  it  all  settled  to  their  sat- 
isfaction, and  I  verily  believe  had  fitted  my  little  fairy 
out  with  all  the  gauzes  and  finery  proper  on  such  occa- 
sions, when  suddenly  they  bethought  them  of  coming 
to  ask  my  consent  to  my  darling's  abstraction.  Now, 
Louis,*  you  know  me  well  enough  to  be  aware  how  hard 
it  would  be  for  me  to  oppose  one  woman  at  a  time;  but 
when  I  tell  you  that  they  came  in  a  band,  and  asked  me 
en  masse  to  consent  to  what  they  had  already  fully  made 
up  their  minds  to  do,  you  may  '  guess,'  as  our  Ameri- 
can cousins  have  it,  what  sort  of  a  chance  I  stood 
amongst  them.  However,  I  thought  I  would  just  try 
it  on  a  little ;  so,  summoning  up  my  most  potential  air 
of  authority,  I  stated  my  decided  objection  to  any  child 
of  mine  taking  up  her  residence  amongst  lions  and 
tigers,  snake  charmers  and  charmeresses ;  but  before  I 
could  get  out  another  word — rap,  rap,  rap!  comes  'the 
spirits,'  and  instantly  my  whole  band  of  feminines  set 
to  work  spelling  out  communications  from  what  I  was 
informed  was  the  spirit  of  f  a  fakir'  who  had  lived  six 


GHOST  LAND.  407 

thousand  years  ago,  and  who  peremptorily  commanded 
that  the  Lady  Blanche  Dudley  should  proceed  forth- 
with to  India,  f  to  meet  her  fat.' 

:'Meet  her  fat!'  I  exclaimed.  ?  In  heaven's  name, 
why  should  she  go  so  far  to  meet  fat?  That  fakir 
does  n't  know  much  about  my  family  arrangements,  I 
take  it.' 

•?  May  it  not  be  to  make  her  fat?'  suggested  my 
wife. 

"  But  no,  the  spirits  would  n't  have  it  that  way  either; 
then,  after  a  considerable  amount  of  bungling,  the  fakir 
corrected  his  spelling,  and  the  sentence  read  thus :  ?  To 
meet  her  fate.' 

""Well,  when  a  body  of  women,  backed  up  by  a  man 
six  thousand  years  old,  undertake  to  have  their  own 
way  Louis,  rely  upon  it,  the  best  thing  one  can  do  is  to 
make  a  virtue  of  necessity  and  give  the  consent  they  'd 
just  as  soon  do  without;  and  so,  to  make  a  long  story 
short,  she  sailed  away  last  March  Lends,  and  the  sun- 
light of  my  life  sailed  with  her.  That 's  all. 

'<  Now,  my  clear  fellow,"  continued  my  friend,  w  don't 
think  I  want  to  tax  your  good-nature  or  impose  any 
burdens  upon  you  in  the  philandering  line,  but  what  I 
would  say  is  this:  See  my  little  Sunshine,  and  just  find 
out,  as  you  can  do  if  you  choose,  if  she  is  happy; 
whether  she  does  n't  want  to  return  to  her  old  father,  or 
whether  she  would  rather  stay  till  my  lord's  term  ex- 
pires. Which  ever  it  is  Louis,  I  give  you  carte  Handle 
to  act  as  if  she  were  your  own  child,  or,  for  the  matter 
of  that,  your  grandchild.  If  she  prefers  her  native 
moon,  that  is,  the  moon  of  her  native  land,  to  that  blaz- 
ing old  luminary  you  keep  for  warming  purposes  in 
Hindostan,  take  her  away  in  her  father's  name.  Pack 
her  up,  with  a  legion  of  Ayahs  to  wait  on  her,  and  a 


408  GHOST  LAND. 

regiment  of  Sepoys  to  escort  her,  and  I  '11  pawn  my 
earldom  but  I  '11  recompense  you,  if  her  transit  home 
costs  a  king's  ransom." 

Such  was  the  substance  of  my  old  friend's  letter,  and 
though  I  was  vexed  enough  to  find  it  ought  to  have  been 
delivered  to  me  so  many  months  ago,  I  still  hoped  to  be 
in  time  to  ascertain  how  far  the  fair  Lady  Blanche  had 
become  reconciled  to  meeting  w  her  fate  "  in  India,  or 
whether  she  might  not  wish  to  return  to  her  native 
land.  Devoting  the  next  hour  to  writing  explanatory 
letters  to  my  old  friend,  and  the  rest  of  the  day  to  my 
preparations  for  departure,  I  was  ready  to  set  out  that 
night  with  Graham  for  Calcutta,  which  w  City  of  Pal- 
aces "  we  reached  in  due  time,  and  after  taking  a  cordial 
leave  of  each  other,  we  departed  to  our  separate  desti- 
nations. 

I  took  an  early  opportunity  after  my  arrival  to  call 

at  the  Viscount  R, 's  residence,  to  inquire  for  his 

wife  and  niece.  •The  ladies  were  away  at  their  country 
seat,  I  was  informed,  but  would  return  to-morrow.  I 
left  cards  for  them,  but  none  for  the  Scotch  digni- 
tary. The  next  morning  however,  brought  the  vis- 
count's servant  to  my  residence  with  his  master's  card, 
and  a  singularly  cordial  invitation  to  dine  en  famille  at 
his  house  the  next  day,  when  his  wife  and  niece  would 
have  returned  to  the  city.  At  the  appointed  time,  and 
whilst  I  was  preparing  for  my  visit,  Capt.  Graham  en- 
tered my  room  with  his  usual  unceremonious  frankness, 
and  tendering  me  a  highly  perfumed  and  extravagantly 
embossed  billet,  accompanied  it  by  the  urgent  request 
that  I  would  oblige  him  by  accepting  the  invitation  it 
contained,  which  was  nothing  less  than  to  attend  a 
fashionable  entertainment  at  the  residence  of  Madame 
Helene  Laval,  the  widow  of  an  eminent  East  Indian 


GHOST  LAND.  409 

nabob,  and  the  reigning  queen  of  a  certain  class  of 
fashionable  society,  for  that  season,  at  Calcutta.  When 
Graham  first  tendered  me  the  scented  piece  of  frivolity 
that  conveyed  this  invitation,  I  was  half  angry  with 
him,  and  despite  the  sincere  regard  we  entertained  for 
each  other,  I  was  somewhat  hurt  that  he  should  have 
so  far  mistaken  me  as  to  imagine  that  I  should  be  will- 
ing to  -spend  my  time  in  assemblies  of  mere  fops 
and  flirts.  He  knew  that  I  was  often  compelled  to 
take  part  in  stately  ceremonial  or  official  gatherings, 
but  he  also  knew  that  in  my  most  charitable  moods,  I 
could  not  regard  what  is  popularly  called  "  society " 
with  toleration ;  how  then,  could  he  expect  me  I  asked 
coldly,  to  make  one  of  the  gilded  butterflies  whom 
a  vain  and  ambitious  woman  gathered  around  her  for 
the  sake  of  exhibiting  the  homage  offered  up  at  her 
shrine? 

Poor  Graham  bore  my  reproaches  very  patiently,  but 
would  not  yield  his  point  nevertheless.  He  said  la 
belle  Helene  was  like  myself  a  ??  mystic "  and  devoted 
ff  occultist";  she  had  long  known  me  by  reputation  as  a 
student  of  her  favorite  sciences,  and  was  eager  to  meet 
me;  that  it  was  no  gilded  butterflies,  but  profound 
thinkers,  grave  reformers,  and  speculative  metaphysi- 
cians who  were  in  the  habit  of  attending  her  soirees. 
Some  rank  and  fashion  of  course,  was  permitted  to 
exhibit  there,  but  for  the  most  part  it  was  to  be  an 
assembly  of  those  whom  I  should  acknowledge  to  be 
^  the  best  people  in  the  city."  Graham  added,  with  an 
earnestness  peculiarly  irresistible  to  me,  his  attached 
friend,  "  But  it  is  not  for  the  society's  sake  I  urge  you 
Chevalier,  it  is  for  my  own  that  I  plead;  there  will  be 
one  person  there  to-night,  whom  I  entreat  you  to 
meet,  to  look  upon  and  speak  to,  if  for  no  other  pur- 


410  GHOST  LAND. 

pose,  at  least  to  oblige  the  friend  who  would  nevei 
refuse  anything  you  could  ask." 

w  Enough !  "  I  replied,  "  you  wish  me  to  see  your 
enchantress,  Graham.  As  soon  as  I  can  extricate 
myself  from  the  dinner  engagement  I  am  about  to  fulfil, 
I  will  meet  you  at  Madame  Laval's." 

On  arriving  at  Viscount  R 's,  I  was  received  by 

him  with  much  more  cordiality  than  he  had  deigned  to 
bestow  on  the  German  mystic  of  olden  times,  but  his 
fair  wife,  now  in  the  full  blush  of  her  Hindoo  dignities 
expanded  into  a  portly,  magnificent  w  Begum,"  greeted 
me  with  all  the  affectionate  interest  of  our  former  ac- 
quaintance.    By  her  side,  and  almost  overshadowed  in 
the  amplitude  of  her  gorgeous  robes,  stood  her  beautiful 
niece,  not  the  little  Blanche  of  old;  no  more  the  merry, 
light-hearted   w  little  Sunshine  "   of  her  doting  father's 
home,  but  the   graceful  and   distingue  Lady  Blanche 
Dudley,  somewhat  grown  it  is  true,  but   still  petite, 
slight,  fragile,  —  ethereal  perhaps,  would  be  the  better 
word,  —  and   beautiful ;  heavens !    what   a   wondrously 
.beautiful  creature  she  was!     All  the  poet's  ideals  of 
sylphs,  undines,  or  fairy  beings,  w  too  fair  for  earth,  too 
frail  for  heaven,"   would  have  paled  and  grown  cold, 
plain,  and  insignificant  before  the  beauty  of  this  won- 
drous, unearthly-looking   girl.      I   gazed  at   her   as  I 
would  have  done  at  the  cunning  workmanship  of  an 
Apelles,  a  Phidias,  or  an  Angelo.     At  that  time,  at 
least,  I  regarded  her  more  as  a  marble  goddess  'than 
a  very   lovely  mortal.     Her   beauty   had   a   touch  of 
sadness  quite  unlike  the  Blanche  of  old,  and  there  was 
so  much  dignity  in  the  turn  of  her  graceful  form,  veiled 
by  masses  of  golden  ringlets,  that  I  stood  like  a  wor- 
shipper of  the  beautiful  in  art,  as  I  have  ever  been,  and 
I  suppose  stared  at  her  in  equal  surprise  and  admira- 


GHOST  LAND.  411 

tion  ere  I  had  the  sense  or  good-breeding  to  greet  her. 
She  was  as  much  changed  in  manner  as  appearance, 
I  found,  for  though  she  met  me  with  kindness  and 
empressment,  there  wras  a  womanly  reserve  and  a  far- 
off,  dreamy  air  of  abstraction  about  her  which  com- 
pletely removed  her  from  my  memory  as  the  merry, 
laughing  girl  I  had  parted  with  eight  years  before. 

Ever  a  dreamer,  a  vision  arose  in  my  mind  of  the 
many  hearts  that  would  ache,  and  the  many  gallants 
that  would  sigh  in  vain  for  this  creature  of  light  and 
ether,  this  peerless  Undine,  and  that  too  in  a  city  where 
the  tropic  skies  and  burning  sun  kindle  up  warmer 
emotions  than  in  any  other  fashionable  capitol  of  the 
known  world.  And  this  was  all,  absolutely  all,  that 
I  thought  about  the  Lady  Blanche  Dudley  during  the 
many  succeeding  months  that  I  became  her  constant 
attendant,  escorting  her  in  her  rides  and  drives,  waiting 
upon  her  in  her  uncle's  stately  official  entertainments, 
listening  to  her  thrilling  voice,  sweeter  than  the  fabled 
syren's,  as  she  accompanied  herself  with  masterly  skill 
on  the  harp;  watching  crowds  of  adorers  hovering 
around  her,  and  the  richest  and  noblest  in  the  land  emu- 
lating each  other  for  the  honor  of  winning  one  glance 
from  her  wonderful  violet  eyes.  And  all  this  I  watched, 
and  looked  upon  her  meanwhile  as  I  would  upon  a  beau- 
tiful and  ingenious  piece  of  mechanism,  or  as  those  of  my 
comrades  who  knew  me  best  affirmed,  w  like  an  Arctic 
iceberg,  reflecting  back  the  rays  of  a  Southern  sun, 
but  never  melting  beneath  them."  And  this  fair  Lady 
Blanche  never  changed  the  soft,  white,  fleecy  gauzes 
in  wThich  she  veiled  her  exquisite  form  for  any  other 
dress,  and  never  substituted  the  fresh  flowers  and  leaves 
which  constituted  her  only  ornaments  for  the  radiant 
jewels  and  burnished  gold  that  flashed  on  every  side 


412  GHOST  LAND. 

around  her.  Who  can  wonder  that  she  moved  in  the 
midst  of  India's  highest  magnates  like  a  descended  star 
of  light  and  purity? 

Who  can  wonder  that  she  became  the  cynosure  of  all 
admiring  eyes,  save  mine?  For  her  good  father's  sake, 
and  because  I  remembered  how  tenderly  in  times  gone 
by,  the  kind-hearted  little  one,  had  wept  in  sympathy 
with  my  strange  afflictions,  I  devoted  to  her  now  all  the 
spare  time  I  had  to  give,  and  delighted  to  escort  her 
and  her  good-natured  aunt  to  those  scenes  of  ancient 
art  and  antique  splendor  with  which  Hindostan  abounds, 
but  in  which  so  few  of  the  fashionable  crowds  around 
them  took  the  deep  interest  they  appeared  to  do. 

Sometimes  I  wondered  at  this  fair  creature's  beauty; 
sometimes  lifted  one  of  her  golden  curls  to  kiss,  or 
placed  choice  flowers  amongst  them.  She  never  raised 
her  eyes  to  mine,  scarcely  ever  looked  at  or  spoke  to 
me,  and  yet  I  knew  this  was  not  unkindness. 

On  the  evening  of  my  first  visit  to  the  viscount's  I 
informed  my  friends  that  I  must  leave  them  soon  after 
dinner,  as  I  had  resolved  to  keep  tryst  with  poor  Gra- 
ham. We  did  not  dine  until  10  p.  M.,  so  that  it  was 
midnight  before  I  was  free.  I  then  stated  the  nature  of 
my  engagement,  and  prepared  to  take  my  leave.  Great 
was  my  surprise  however,  when  the  viscount  asked  me 
if  I  would  take  his  place  as  an  escort  to  his  wife  and 
niece  who  were  also  engaged  to  attend  Madame  Laval's 
entertainment,  from  which  he  should  still  be  detained 
for  an  hour  or  so. 

"Are  you  then  acquainted  with  this  lady?"  I  asked 
of  the  viscountess,  as  we  drove  to  Madame  Laval's  res- 
idence." 

"  Oh,  yes,"  replied  Lady  Emily,  w  of  course  we  are. 
Helene  is  our  Blanche's  dearest  friend;  in  fact,  they  are 


GHOST  LAND.  413 

almost  inseparable;  besides,"  she  added,  lowering  her 
tone  mysteriously,  "  she  is  one  of  our  sort,  you  know, 
Chevalier;  a  mystic  and  a  medium,  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,  and  of  course,  we  are  delighted  to  cultivate  her, 
with  our  present  terribly  materialistic  surroundings. 
She  reads  the  stars,  too,  distils  potions,  and — " 

"Dearest  aunt,"  interposed  Blanche,  "do  not  suffer 
yourself  to  speak  so  wildly  of  Helene.  She  is  a  woman 
far  beyond  her  surroundings,  Chevalier,"  she  added, 
turning  to  me,  and  blushing  in  the  warmth  of  her 
friend's  defence. 

:?"Why  don't  you  call  me  Louis,  as  you  used  to  do?" 
I  asked.  !?  Is  it  because  I  am  now  expected  to  address 
you  as  Lady  Blanche  Dudley?  " 

w  Louis ! "  she  said  in  an  accent  so  pathetic  that  it 
rings  in  my  ears  to  this  day.  "  Louis,  then,  now  and 
forever ! " 

Of  Madame  Laval's  entertainment,  her  royal  and 
distinguished  guests,  and  the  splendor  which  flashed 
through  her  salons  at  every  turn,  it  would  require  a 
writer  more  skilled  and  interested  in  such  scenes  than 
myself  to  dilate  on.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  as  we  entered 
the  principal  salon,  Lady  Blanche,  in  defiance  of  all 
etiquette,  left  me,  and  hastened  forward  to  greet  her 
beloved  friend  with  a  sister's  kiss,  and  then  returned 
leading  that  friend,  with  something  like  her  old  look  of 
girlish  impulse,  through  the  gay  crowds,  to  present  to 
me.  As  she  approached,  I  saw  that  she  led  in  triumph 
and  obvious  delight,  a  tall,  graceful,  splendid  brunette, 
with  large,  searching,  oriental  eyes,  heavy  masses  of 
raven  hair,  glittering  with  diamonds,  a  majestic  pres- 
ence, fascinating  smile,  and — the  impersonation  of  the 
horrible  vision  I  had  beheld  when  psychometrizing 
Graham's  " talisinanic "  package! 


414  GHOST  LAND. 

This  lady,  whom  I  subsequently  found  had  been 
named  in  the  fashionable  circles  that  thronged  around 
her,  "  the  enchantress,"  received  me  with  marked  pres- 
tige. She  held  my  hand  in  hers  some  time  longer  than 
was  necessary  for  the  formalities  of  presentation;  in- 
formed me  I  was  no  stranger  to  her,  though  she,  of 
course,  she  said,  was  unknown  to  me;  told  me  she  had 
seen  me  at  — — ,  and  here  she  named  several  scenes  of 
my  public  life  when  I  might  have  been  in  presence 
of  many  persons  of  whom  I  knew  nothing;  that  she 
had  followed  my  career  with  the  deepest  interest,  sym- 
pathized with  certain  of  those  pursuits  which  vulgar 
rumor  attributed  to  me,  and  was  especially  delighted  to 
meet  me  on  account  of  her  darling  friend, — here  she 
glanced  patronizingly  down  upon  Blanche,  —  and  finally 
she  released  my  hand,  but  not  before  she  had  given  me 
the  peculiar  grip  accompanied  by  the  sign  of  a  certain 
society,  to  which  I  belonged,  but  to  which  I  never  knew 
that  any  ladies  had  been  admitted.  Before  I  had  time 
to  breathe  or  recover  from  the  shock  her  identification 
with  my  vision  occasioned  me,  still  less  to  follow  the 
drift  of  her  many  complimentary  remarks  and  the  extra- 
ordinary signs  of  understanding  she  gave  me,  she  again 
claimed  my  attention  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
her  brother,  Monsieur  Paul  Perrault,  a  tall,  handsome 
Frenchman,  who  strongly  resembled  his  sister,  but  the 
touch  of  whose  ungloved  hand  sent  a  thrill  through 
mine  which  reminded  me  of  nothing  so  much  as  plun- 
ging my  hand  into  a  nest  of  crawling  adders. 

Oh,  fatal  gift  of  occult  sight !  Oh,  ban  of  mortal  life,  — 
that  power  which  pierces  the  veil,  wisely,  providentially, 
hung  before  the  holy  of  holies  in  each  one's  secret 
nature!  That  fatal  occult  sight  was  mine  from  the 
moment  that  woman  fixed  her  talismanic  eyes  upon  me. 


GHOST  LAND.  415 

That  veil  was  lifted  instantly  as  I  beheld  her  standing 
side  by  side  with  her  obsequious  brother,  Near  them 
gleamed  the  snow-white,  misty  robes  of  the  golden- 
haired  Blanche,  and  above  their  heads  grinned  and 
chattered  a  triad  of  hideous  elementaries,  invisible  to 
all  but  me,  yet  graphically  revealing  the  characteristics 
of  the  couple  to  whom  they  were  attracted  as  attendant 
spirits,  and  glowering  at  the  unconscious  Blanche  like 
the  demons  of  some  hideous  rite,  to  whom  she,  the  pure 
victim,  was  to  be  offered  up  as  a  sacrifice. 

Near  this  group  stood  my  friend  Graham,  and  I  was 
fairly  shocked  by  the  look  of  pain  and  anxiety  with 
which  he  was  scrutinizing  me  as  I  endured  this  intro- 
duction. I  have  often  marvelled  why  the  exercise  of 
spiritual  insight  is  so  seldom  accompanied  by  the 
power  to  use  it.  (The  seer  is  compelled  to  behold  the 
innermost  of  natures  all  masked  to  others,  yet  the  cramp- 
mgjDonds  of  society  interpose  to  neutralize  the  value  of 
what  he  discovers.^ 

Had  I  obeyed  the  monitions  which  my  spiritual  per- 
ceptions suggested  at  that  moment,  I  should  have 
spurned,  ay,  spat  upon  that  brother  and  sister  instead 
of  bowing  before  them  and  suffering  them  to  touch  my 
shivering  hand;  I  should  have  shut  them  out  from  all 
that  was  good  and  fair  and  beautiful ;  above  all,  I  should 
have  laid  that  golden-headed  Blanche  low  in  the  quiet 
grave  ere  I  had  suffered  their  baleful  presence  to  come 
like  a  blight  between  her  and  the  sunlight  of  her  young 
life.  As  it  was,  the  shadow  of  the  future  clung  around 
me  like  a  cold,  damp  shroud,  and  as  I  caught  the  eye  of 
poor  Graham,  I  felt  giddy,  lost,  wretched,  and  he  knew 
I  understood  that  the  original  of  the  vision  stood  before 
me.  When  the  host  and  hostess  left  me  to  pay  their 
compliments  to  others,  Graham  approached  and  said 


416  GHOST  LAND. 

earnestly,  "You  have  my  secret,  Chevalier,  and  see  my 
enchantress.  You  cannot  wonder  at  my  fascination,  nor 
do  I  marvel  at  yours."  He  glanced  as  he  spoke  at  the 
fair  Blanche.  w  Oh ! "  I  said  as  if  waking  from  a  dream, 
w  I  have  no  fascination  here,  Graham.  These  scenes  are 
hateful  to  me,  and  the  atmosphere  is  so  unendurable  I 

can  stay  no  longer."  As  I  spoke,  the  Viscount  R 

and  a  party  of  his  friends  entered  the  salon.  Pleading 
the  indisposition  I  really  felt,  I  hastened  to  resign  my 
charge  to  him,  and  left  the  place. 

It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  same  night,  just  as  the 
first  faint  streaks  of  dawning  light  had  begun  to  dispel 
the  darkness,  that  I  awoke  with  an  indescribable  sense  of 
mental  oppression.  I  felt  as  if  all  that  was  good  and  true 
had  abandoned  me  and  I  was  left  in  the  toils  of  some  foul 
and  hateful  captivity.  As  I  started  up  from  my  pillow, 
determined  to  shake  off  this  terrible  nightmare  by  exer- 
cise, I  saw  distinctly,  standing  between  me  and  the 
faintly  illumined  sky  as  it  gleamed  through  the  open 
glass  doors  of  my  chamber,  the  figure  of  Madame 
Helene  Laval,  —  graceful,  beautiful,  and  commanding 
as  a  Pythoness,  a  veritable  Medea,  though  but  little  of 
a  woman.  In  one  hand  she  held  a  short  curl  of  black 
hair,  in  the  other  a  square  case,  the  nature  of  which  I 
could  not  at  first  discern.  Her  voice,  which  though 
deep  was  singularly  sweet  and  sympathetic,  sounded  a 
long  way  off  as  she  said,  w  Do  not  seek  to  fly  me !  I  love 
you,  have  long  loved  and  followed  you.  Give  me  your 
affection  or  —  yourself,  and  I  will  worship  you.  Re- 
ject me,  and  I  will  destroy  all  you  love  best." 

She  then  raised  the  square  case  she  held  in  her  hand, 
and  I  saw  it  was  an  ivory  miniature,  a  likeness  of  my- 
self, that  Mr.  Dudley  had  caused  to  be  taken  before  I 
left  England.  I  was  not  informed  how  this  portrait  was 


GHOST  LAND. 

to  be  disposed  of,  but  I  was  under  the  impression  that 
it  belonged  to  the  family  generally. 

Without  any  definite  idea  of  what  I  was  going  to  do, 
I  sprang  from  my  bed  and  grasped  the  figure  I  beheld 
by  the  arm,  endeavoring  at  the  same  time  to  seize  the 
portrait  she  held.  What  I  touched  gave  me  the  impres- 
sion of  being  a  substance  like  stiif  gauze,  or  lace  in- 
flated by  air;  but  instantly,  beneath  my  hand,  this 
substance  began  to  recede,  the  figure  collapsed,  shrank 
together,  and  melted  down  to  the  floor.  The  last  por- 
tion I  saw  of  it  was  a  pair  of  black,  long,  almond- 
shaped  eyes,  gleaming  at  me  with  an  expression  I 
would  fain  blot  out  from  my  memory  forever. 

I  have  often  touched  the  "  atmospheric  spirit "  or 
Doppel  Granger  of  others,  my  own  included,  and  felt  a 
sense  of  resistance  like  the  application  of  my  hand  to 
a  body  of  compressed  air,  but  I  never  before  experi- 
enced such  a  concrete  mass  of  materialized  life  essence 
as  this  terrible  wraith  displayed.  It  vanished,  however, 
though  from  that  time  forth  it  haunted  me  day  and 
night  for  many  a  long  month. 

When  my  phantom  visitor  disappeared,  I  mechani- 
cally raised  my  hand  to  my  head,  and  discovered  where 
a  lock  of  hair  had  been  cut  away  from  the  back;  but 
how  or  when  was  as  much  a  mystery  as  how  it  had 
come  into  the  visionary  hand  where  it  had  just  been 
displayed. 

It  was  about  a  week  after  this  occurrence,  and  when 

I  was  engaged  to  dine  at  Viscount  R 's,  that  on 

entering  his  drawing-room,  I  saw  Lady  Emily  standing 
looking  out  of  the  window  with  her  back  towards  me. 
She  was  alone.  I  knew  her  impressibility,  and  had  but 
to  exert  my  will  for  one  instant  to  place  her  under  its 
psychological  influence.  I  then  caused  her  to  turn 

27 


418  GHOST  LAND. 

round,  sit  down  on  an  ottoman  before  me,  and  answer 
the  following  questions  :  — 

"  Lady  Emily,  tell  me  truly,  to  whom  was  my  portrait 
given  after  I  left  England?" 

T  To  Blanche,  my  niece." 

"For  what  reason?" 

"  She  asked  permission  of  her  mother  to  copy  it,  as  a 
work  of  art." 

"For  whom?" 

"For  herself.  She  confided  to  me  her  wish  to  pos- 
sess a  copy,  and  I  agreed  that  it  should  be  asked  for  in 
my  name." 

*  Where  is  that  copy  now?" 

Lady  Emily  began  to  tremble  violently  as  she 
answered,  though  with  great  apparent  reluctance,  "In 
the  possession  of  Helene  de  Laval." 

"  How  came  it  there?  " 

"Helene  asked  Blanche  for  it,  with  the  expressed 
wish  of  copying  it,  and  Blanche,  who  can  refuse  Helene 
nothing,  was  obliged  to  comply." 

"How  did  Madame  Laval  know  Blanche  possessed 
such  a  picture?  " 

"O  heavens!  that  woman  knows  everything.  She 
has  a  complete  mastery  over  Blanche,  and  can  read  the 
inmost  secrets  of  her  heart." 

"  And  yours  also,  Lady  Emily." 

"Not  so  well.  She  has  never  magnetized  me,  but  she 
has  Blanche." 

"  Can  you  not  interpose  your  authority  to  prevent  the 
continuance  of  this  intimacy?" 

"  I  will  try,  but  I  am  afraid  of  Helene.  She  can  come 
and  go  as  a  spirit,  whenever  and  wherever  she  pleases." 

"Have  you  ever  seen  her  as  a  spirit?" 
Many  times  ;  coming  out  of  Blanche's  apartments." 


" 


GHOST  LAND.  419 

w  Have  others  seen  her?  " 

"Certainly.  Blanche's  maid,  also  the  viscount  and 
my  housekeeper." 

*  Why  did  she  desire  to  have  my  picture?  " 

I  felt  condemned  as  I  asked  this  question,  and  the 
self-reproach  that  arose  in  my  mind,  occasioning  a  feel- 
ing of  irresolution,  evidently  shook  my  rapport  with  the 
somnambulist.  I  saw  that  she  too  was  irresolute  and 
doubtful.  I  immediately  closed  the  seance,  therefore, 
and,  demagnetizing  my  kind  subject,  presented  myself 
before  her  as  if  I  had  just  entered  the  drawing-room. 
Lady  Emily  started,  and  holding  out  heir  hand,  ex- 
claimed, "Why,  Louis!  is  it  possible  you  have  found 
me  napping?  I  believe  I  am  hardly  awake  yet,  for  I 
am  strangely  sleepy." 

For  many  months  I  was  detained  by  the  duties  of  my 
position  in  the  vicinity  of  Calcutta,  and  during  the  con- 
stant intimacy  I  maintained  with  my  English  friends,  I 
discovered  three  well-marked  features  of  our  relative 
situations.  The  first  was  that  Blanche  Dudley  was 
completely  infatuated  by,  and  in  the  power  of,  Madame 
Helene  Laval.  Next,  that  the  lady's  brother,  M.  Per- 
rault,  was  equally  infatuated  with  the  beautiful  English 
lady;  and  despite  the  fact  that  his  rivals  were,  some  of 
them,  native  princes  and  nobles  of  the  highest  rank  and 
official  distinction  in  Hindostan,  he  had  conceived  the 
audacious  design  of  appropriating  this  precious  prize, 
despite  all  odds  against  him.  That  he  was  weaving  a 
spell  around  this  beautiful  creature  by  aid  of  other  arts 
than  those  of  his  own  personal  attractions  was  a  fact 
of  which  I  became  more  and  more  distressingly  con- 
scious every  day;  whilst  the  third  and  most  repulsive 
idea  which  ranged  itself  before  me  in  the  category  of 
certainties,  was  that  his  magnificent  sister  was  directing 


420  GHOST  LAND. 

a  battery  of  the  same  magical  character  against  myself; 
furthermore,  that  it  required  all  the  knowledge  of 
occultism  that  I  possessed,  to  baffle  and  thwart  the  arts 
she  employed  to  fascinate  me. 

Not  an  hour  of  the  day  or  night  passed,  during 
which  I  disposed  myself  to  slumber,  that  I  did  not 
awaken  to  find  her  "atmospheric  spirit "  hovering  over 
me.  Exorcism,  concentrated  will,  all  were  in  vain  to 
banish  this  dreadful  haunting.  The  terrible  wraith 
could  neither  touch  nor  magnetize  me,  but  she  was  her- 
self so  powerful  an  adept  and  so  reckless  in  her  alli- 
ance with  the  most  potential  of  elementaries,  that  the 
best  I  could  do  was  to  guard  myself  during  my  waking 
hours  against  the  mighty  spells  she  used  to  subdue  me. 
There  were  means  by  which  I  could  have  utterly  broken 
those  spells,  and  cast  them  back  upon  herself;  but  in 
this  case  I  must  have  left  the  unfortunate  Lady  Blanche 
an  unprotected  prey  to  the  arts  of  this  vile  woman  and 
her  bad  brother;  and  for  the  sake  of  the  innocent  girl 
herself,  no  less  than  in  my  steady  friendship  for  her 
excellent  father,  I  silently,  secretly  vowed  myself  to 
her  defence  against  her  unprincipled  assailants.  The 
problematical  Npart  of  this  network  of  evil  lay  in  the  fact 
that  Blanche  had  become  completely  spell-bound  before 
my  arrival  in  Calcutta.  When  I  attempted  to  modify 
her  unlimited  confidence  in  Helene,  she  expressed  the 
utmost  regret  and  astonishment  at  my  aversion  for  so 
charming  a  person,  and  asked  mournfully  why  I  wished 
to  take*  from  her,  her  only  friend. 

"Has  she  told  you  she  was  your  only  friend,  Blanche," 
I  asked, —  "you,  who  are  surrounded,  not  with  friends 
alone,  but  with  positive  worshippers?" 

''What  are  they  all  to  me?"  replied  the  poor  girl, 
in  a  pleading,  bewildered  tone.  "One  true  friend  is 


GHOST  LAND.  421 

worth  a  legion  of  interested  acquaintances.  Helene 
is  true.  She  alone  understands  me.  "Whom  else  can  I 
trust?" 

"  Can  you  not  trust  me,  Blanche?"  I  inquired,  though 
with  much  hesitation. 

Flushing  instantly  to  the  hue  of  the  crimson  roses 
which  adorned  her  white  dress,  she  answered  evasively, 
"Helene  told  me  before  you  came  hither,  you  would 
cruelly  misunderstand  her,  and  warn  me  against  her. 
She  knew  this  by  aid  of  those  powerful  spirits  who 
surround  her.  She  told  me,  too,  the  hour  would  come 
when  I  should  have  no  one  to  rely  upon  but  her.  Is  it 
not  come  now?" 

There  was  an  air  of  utter  desolation  in  the  accents 
of  this  young  and  beautiful  creature,  which  formed  a 
strange  contrast  between  the  splendor  of  her  surround- 
ings, the  attractions  which  brought  half  a  kingdom  to 
her  feet,  and  the  forlorn  expression  with  which  she 
clasped  her  little  hands  and  gazed  into  the  far-off  dis- 
tance, like  a  hunted  deer  seeking  for  shelter. 

The  piteous  though  unspoken  appeal  made  its  way 
into  the  depths  of  my  heart,  and  would  certainly  have 
enchained  me  in  the  bonds  I  so  much  dreaded,  had 
not  a  happy  alternative  suggested  itself.  I  suddenly 
remembered  her  good  father's  letter,  and  knew  how 
much  he  would  at  that  moment  have  felt  indebted  to 
me  if  I  assumed  his  office,  and  urged  upon  the  poor, 
bewildered  girl  an  immediate  return  to  his  paternal  care 
and  protection. 

I  knew  the  fearful  peril  in  which  she  stood,  and 
though  I  could  never  make  her  pure  and  innocent 
nature  comprehend  the  force  of  evil  spells  or  the 
actual  potency  of  psychological  arts,  I  succeeded  in 
impressing  her  with  the  dangers  she  incurred  by  sub- 


422  GHOST  LAND. 

jecting  herself  any  longer  to  the  possibility  of  a  con- 
trolling influence  from  her  friend,  Helene,  in  favor  of 
her  audacious  brother,  Paul  Perrault. 

I  found  here  that  I  had  touched  a  chord,  to  which 
every  fibre  in  the  refined  and  high-toned  lady's  being 
instantly  responded.  She  truly  loved  Helene,  but  detested 
her  brother.  She  perfectly  understood  his  pretensions, 
but  never  for  one  moment  believed  that  even  Helene's 
influence  could  convert  her  loathing  for  Perrault  into 
toleration.  From  this  source,  she  said,  she  expected  no 
other  result  than  the  pain  she  felt  in  inflicting  pain  on 
her  friend.  My  arguments,  however,  proved  resistless. 
I  brought  such  an  array  of  reasons  before  her  to  show 
why  she  should  return,  for  her  father's  sake,  her  own, 
and  —  alas!  more  potential  than  all  —  for  mine,  that, 
putting  both  her  hands  into  mine,  and  fixing  her  won- 
derfully lovely  eyes  upon  me  with  the  devotion  of  a 
saint  for  a  deity,  she  murmured,  "  Order  my  destiny  as 
you  will :  I  obey."  Hating  myself  for  my  resolution  to 
send  her  away,  yet  more  resolved  than  ever  to  remove 
her  from  scenes  and  places  where  there  was  not  one 
human  being  worthy  of  her,  least  of  all  myself,  I  left 
her,  having  undertaken  the  very  difficult,  very  ungra- 
cious, and  certainly  untruthful  task  of  persuading  her 
aunt  and  uncle  that  she  was  pining  to  return  to  her 
home,  wearying  for  the  society  of  her  own  family,  and 
must  be  sent  back  by  the  very  next  ship  that  sailed. 


CHAPTEE  XXIII. 

BLACK  MAGIC   OR   VAUDOOISM. 

IT  was  with  considerable  hesitation  that  I  presented 
my  plea  to  the  Viscount  R for  his  fair  niece's  re- 
turn to  England. 

I  had  nothing  to  excuse  my  interference  in  such  a 
matter  but  her  father's  letter  and  her  own  wish;  for 
this  was  the  ground  on  which  Blanche  herself  had 
desired  me  to  found  my  proposition.  The  viscount 
received  my  request  very  coldly,  but  said  he  would  refer 
the  matter  to  his  wife  and  niece,  with  whom  he  prom- 
ised to  consult  before  arriving  at  any  conclusion  on  his 
own  account;  meantime,  he  added,  as  I  had  thought 
proper  to  open  up  the  subject  of  his  niece's  welfare,  he 
deemed  it  a  favorable  opportunity  to  present  another 
view  of  her  interests,  and  one  in  which  he  thought  I 
was  more  immediately  concerned.  He  then,  in  stately 
phraseology,  and  with  considerable  show  of  patronage, 
made  me  a  formal  offer  of  the  lady's  hand.  He  ac- 
knowledged that  I  had  given  him  no  reason  to  suppose 
I  sought  such  an  alliance,  but  he  could  hardly  imagine 
that  the  honor  for  which  princes  contended  would  be 
unappreciated  by  me.  He  confessed  that  he  was  im- 
pelled to  w  this  extraodinary  breach  of  etiquette,"  first, 
by  what  he  knew  to  have  long  been  the  sincere  wish  of 
the  Lady  Blanche's  excellent  parents ;  next,  because  his 
"own  dear  wife  "  had  set  her  heart  upon  the  match.  In 


424  GHOST  LAND. 

addition  to  this,  he  said,  it  was  evident  that  there  was 
some  powerful  obstacle  to  the  young  lady's  settlement 
in  life,  when  she  so  pertinaciously  refused  all  the  splen- 
did opportunities  that  were  open  to  her;  and  finally,  he' 
trusted  to  my  chivalry  and  sense  of  honor  not  to  mis- 
understand him  when  he  hinted  his  opinion,  that  I  was 
the  particular  obstacle  in  the  way ;  in  a  word,  that  it  was 
for  my  sake  that  she  had  rejected  the  many  desirable 
offers  of  brilliant  settlement  that  had  been  made  to  her. 

My  principal  sentiment  towards  Lord  R—  -  for  this 
very  flattering  address  was  one  of  gratitude,  as  it  gave 
me  an  opportunity  to  explain  to  him  my  position  with 
perfect  candor.  I  told  him,  with  all  the  deep  and  affec- 
tionate interest  I  cherished  for  Earl  D -  and  his 

family,  to  say  nothing  of  my  fraternal  regard  for  sweet 
Blanche  herself,  it  was  yet  impossible  that  I  could 
marry.  I  was  a  man  devoted  to  a  special  idea,  con- 
secrated to  aims  wholly  foreign  to  the  marriage  relation, 
the  duties  of  which  I  could  not  undertake  consistently 
with  the  religious  engagements  to  which  I  referred.  I 
assured  him  that  it  was  chiefly  because  I  was  unable  to 
contribute  to  Blanche's  happiness  or  peace  of  mind,  that 
I  had  pleaded  with  him  to  permit  her  return  to  her 
native  land  and  her  father's  protection. 

'  To  her  father's  protection  most  surely,"  replied  the 
viscount  bitterly.  "Handsome  men  that  can't  marry 
ought  decidedly  to  devote  themselves  to  a  religious  life ; 
and  beautiful  young  ladies  that  worft  marry  should 
never  be  absent  from  the  paternal  roof." 

Without  resenting  the  tone  of  sarcastic  disappoint- 
ment in  which  the  poor  viscount  spoke,  I  again  took 
advantage  of  our  awkward  game  of  fence  to  urge  my 

plea  for  Blanche's  departure.     I  knew  that  Lord  K 

had  no  valid  excuse  for  finding  fault  with  me  in  this 


GHOST  LAND.  425 

rejection  of  an  engagement  I  had  never  given  him  the 
least  reason  to  suppose  I  desired,  yet  I  pitied  his  morti- 
fication, and  felt  neither  surprised  nor  angry  to  observe 
that  he  could  scarcely  master  his  sense  of  humiliation, 
or  address  me  with  common  civility. 

He  at  length  assumed  an  air  of  submission,  which  ill- 
concealed  his  anger  and  disappointment;  and  as  I  was 
about  to  take  my  leave,  he  suggested  that  as  perhaps 
the  ladies  might  suspect  what  a  blockhead  he  had 
been  making  of  himself  if  I  departed  thus  suddenly,  he 
should  feel  obliged  if  I  would  deign  to  bestow  a  few 
moments  more  of  my  valuable  time  upon  them  in  the 
drawing-room.  I  followed  him  in  silence  to  Lady 
Emily's  boudoir,  where  we  found  Blanche  extended  on 
a  couch,  suffering  from  a  severe  headache.  I  uttered  a 
few  of  the  commonplace  pieces  of  advice  usual  under 
such  circumstances,  and  was  about  to  make  this  indis- 
position a  plea  for  my  immediate  departure,  when 
Blanche  rose  suddenly,  and  shaking  back  her  glorious 
veil  of  golden  curls  from  her  flushed  face,  she  ex- 
claimed, "Helene  will  cure  me;  she  calls  me  even  now. 
I  know  her  soothing  influence." 

For  a  few  moments  she  stood,  evidently  magnetized 
by  some  unseen  power,  in  the  attitude  of  a  Pythia  wait- 
ing for  the  inspiration  of  the  divine  efflatus ;  then  as  the 
force  of  somnambulism  deepened  upon  her,  her  beauti- 
ful face  became  almost  transfigured.  Every  one  present 
continued  to  gaze  upon  her  with  breathless  admiration, 
when  suddenly  she  commenced  to  sing  a  song  so  full  of 
sympathetic  tenderness  and  exquisite  melody  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  listen  to  her  without  tears.  This 
wonderful  piece  of  musical  improvisation  was  addressed 
to  me,  and  breathed  the  language  of  hopeless  love  com- 
bined with  a  warning  of  impending  evil.  It  might  have 


426  OHOST  LAND. 

applied  to  the  songstress  herself,  but  seemed  more 
designed  to  express  the  passion  of  the  sibylline  Helene, 
whose  "atmospheric  spirit"  I  could  discern,  standing 
beside,  and  inspiring  the  beautiful  somnambulist.  Even 
the  viscount,  cold  and  passionless  as  he  was,  had  suffi- 
cient artistic  culture  to  be  amazed  and  enchanted  at  the 
irresistible  beauty  of  the  song.  Most  fortunately,  too, 
he  had  seen  enough  of  the  magnetic  trance  to  under- 
stand it.  He  was  none  the  less  displeased,  however,  and 
declared  that  since  his  niece  was  given  to  "such  fits  of 
vaticination  as  that, "  the  only  safe  and  proper  place  for 
her  was  beneath  her  father's  roof,  and  the  sooner  she  was 
there  the  more  relieved  he  should  feel. 

Meantime  poor  Lady  Emily  wept  and  smiled  and 
clapped  her  hands  with  delight,  and  when  at  last  the 
fair  somnambulist  returned  to  consciousness,  and  hid 
her  face  in  her  aunt's  arms,  the  latter  expressed  her 
unbounded  satisfaction  that  her  Blanche  had  not  lost 
that  wonderful  gift  of  "trance  improvisation"  which  had 
made  her  the  star  of  those  happy  home  seances  which 
had  proceeded  under  her  father's  roof,  and  in  which 
Blanche  had  been  the  principal  medium  and  Lady 
Emily  one  of  the  admiring  witnesses. 

When  Blanche  was  entirely  restored  to  herself,  I 
asked  her  gently,  whether  Madame  Laval  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  magnetizing  her.  "  Oh,  yes,"  she  answered, 
"frequently.  She  can  not  only  relieve  my  headaches 
when  I  have  one,  but  she  can  call  me  to  her  at  any 
distance.  "We  have  frequently  tried  this  experiment, 
and  I  know  she  could  make  me  come  to  her,  should  she 
will  me  to  do  so,  from  the  end  of  the  world." 

I  looked  significantly  at  the  viscount,  and  then  rose 
to  take  my  leave.  He  followed  me  from  the  room,  say- 
ing with  much  cordiality,  as  we  shook  hands  at  parting, 


GHOST  LAND.  427 

"Chevalier,  you  are  right.  This  poor  girl's  place  is 
with  her  father  and  mother.  I  have  been  wrong  to 
allow  her  to  engage  in  these  dangerous  magnetic  prac- 
tices; and  since  they  cannot  be  broken  through  if  she 
stays  here,  go  the  must,  and  that  with  the  least  possible 
delay." 

"Has  not  the  error  been  in  allowing  one  so  pure, 
innocent,  and  impressible  as  Blanche,"  I  replied,  "to 
become  subjugated  by  the  baleful  influence  of  Madame 
Laval?" 

The  viscount  colored  highly,  and  in  the  elaborate 
defence  which  he  attempted  of  Madame  Laval,  simply 
confirmed  my  suspicions  that  he,  like  his  niece  and 
many  another  unsuspecting  victim,  had  succumbed  to 
the  spell  which  this  enchantress  delighted  to  cast  on  all 
around  her,  especially  when,  as  in  the  present  instance, 
she  had  something  to  gain  by  the  exercise  of  her  fas- 
cinations. It  was  agreed  between  the  viscount  and 
myself,  that  Blanche  should  sail  for  England  in  about 
ten  days,  that  in  the  mean  time  she  should  be  taken  by 
Lady  Emily  to  their  country-seat,  some  seven  miles 
from  Calcutta,  under  pretence  of  allowing  her  full 
leisure  to  complete  her  preparations  for  departure, 
whilst  the  viscount  and  myself  further  arranged  that  I 
should  ride  out  to  see  her  as  often  as  was  necessary,  to 
consult  about  the  most  perfect  conditions  for  her  com- 
fort and  welfare  during  her  passage  homeward. 

My  mind  set  at  rest  on  that  subject,  I  felt  free  to 
devote  myself  a  little  more  to  my  friend  Graham,  who 
had  at  last  induced  me  to  promise  that  I  would  that 
very  night,  conduct  him  to  a  Vaudoo  woman,  from 
whom  he  hoped  to  obtain  some  gift  or  information 
which  would  aid  him  in  the  prosecution  of  his  almost 
hopeless  suit.  I  had  in  vain  attempted  to  dissuade  him 


428  GHOST  LAND. 

from  this  step.  Graham  either  would  not  or  could  not 
open  his  eyes  to  the  real  character  of  the  woman  he  so 
frantically  loved.  Some  of  the  arts  she  had  put  upon 
him  in  common  with  others  whom  she  desired  to  fasci- 
nate, had  led  him  to  believe  that  it  only  required  a 
certain  amount  of  influence  on  his  part  to  turn  the 
scale  of  her  vacillating  mind  in  his  favor.  He  had 
heard  much,  he  said,  of  a  certain  Yaudoo  woman  of 
Calcutta,  named  Anine,  who  to  his  certain  knowledge 
had  brought  together  many  couples  whom  he  named. 

All  the  philosophy  I  had  formerly  urged  against  these 
practices  were  reiterated  in  vain.  He  was  resolved  to 
try  the  effect  of  Vaudooism,  and,  with  or  without  me, 
he  would  visit  Anine. 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  I  had  in  my  service  a  fakir 
named  ]STazir  Sahib,  who  was  remarkably  skilful  in  all 
feats  of  occultism,  especially  in  such  as  were  produced 
through  the  ecstacy  of  motion,  an  art  he  had  learned 
in  Egypt  from  the  famous  "whirling  dervishes."  This 
fakir  was  a  Malay,  and  brother  to  that  very  Anine  who 
had  obtained  a  high  reputation  for  her  success  in  those 
arts  of  sorcery,  which  more  properly  come  under  the 
cognomen  of  "Vaudooism."  I  had  never  seen  Nazir's 
sister,  nor  had  I  any  desire  to  do  so;  but  as  my  little 
fakir  was  much  attached  to  me,  and  delighted  to  recount 
for  my  edification  his  sister's  remarkable  experiences 
with  her  distinguished  patrons  and  patronesses,  I  became 
unwittingly,  the  repository  of  many  singular  and  un- 
sought-for  confidences,  amongst  which  was  one  that 
I  deemed  might  be  peculiarly  serviceable  to  my  friend 
Graham  at  this  juncture. 

It  was  by  a  private  arrangement  then  with  Nazir, 
that  I  selected  a  certain  night  for  our  visit  to  Anine, 
arid  this  was  the  result.  Directing  our  steps  towards 


GHOST  LAND.  429 

the  lowest  and  most  obscure  part  of  the  "black  city," 
we  arrived  about  midnight  at  the  door  of  a  low  dwell- 
ing, when  I  paused  to  advise  Graham  that  he  was  to 
walk  unswervingly  and  as  nearly  as  he  could  in  my 
footsteps,  keep  close  to  me,  and  neither  turn  aside  or 
speak.  He  need  not  marvel,  I  added,  that  no  one  who 
might  chance  to  meet  us  would  observe  or  address  us, 
for  we  should  be  invisible  and  unheard. 

If  my  readers  should  question  whether  I  was  serious 
in  this  last  assertion,  I  answer  YES,  in  every  iota.  If 
they  still  further  desire  to  know  how  I  could  command 
such  a  power,  I  reply,  By  such  means  as  enables  the 
Hindoo  fakir  to  saturate  his  body  with  living  force, 
and  subdue  all  its  physical  elements  to  the  power  of 
his  spirit.  This  power  is  gained  by  long-protracted 
fasts  and  other  ascetic  practices,  continued  for  years, 
when  the  actual  changes  wrought  in  the  system,  render 
the  rapport  between  the  votary  and  the  spirit  world 
very  close  and  intimate.  The  subject,  almost  a  spirit 
himself,  can  easily  be  enveloped  in  the  agasa  (life 
essence)  of  the  spirit's  astral  body,  and  in  this  envel- 
ope he  walks  in  spiritual  invisibility,  commanding  the 
physical  elements  of  earth  at  will.  The  processes  by 
which  a  determined  Eastern  ecstatic  can  attain  to  these 
spiritual  states  would  be  as  useless  to  describe  to  self- 
indulgent  European  sybarites  as  to  expect  an  English 
life-guardsman  to  fly  through  the  air  like  an  East  Indian 
Irdha-pada,  who  has  spent  his  life  in  probationary  exer- 
cises, besides  inheriting  an  organism  fitted  for  the  part 
he  plays. 

It  is  enough  to  say  that  I  had  earned  the  power  I 
possessed,  and  was  aided  by  spirits  to  exercise  it  and 
dispense  it  to  my  companion. 

After  passing  through  the  outer  dwelling  and  a  sue- 


430  GHOST  LAND. 

cession  of  mean,  deserted  courts,  we  came  to  a  ruinous 
old  temple,  in  one  angle  of  which  I  advanced  to  the 
door  of  a  crypt,  which  opened  from  within  at  my  signal, 
and  admitted  us,  by  a  descent  of  a  few  steps,  into  a  large 
stone  chamber  partly  hewn  out  of  the  rock.  Here  we 
found  a  tank  and  other  preparations  for  the  performance 
of  ancient  priestly  rites.  Three  veiled  females  were 
sitting  huddled  together  on  a  stone  bench  at  the  side  of 
the  hall,  and  their  attire  proved  that  they  were  atten- 
dants on  some  lady  of  consequence. 

^  Do  not  mind  them,"  I  said  to  Graham  aloud.  "  Step 
as  I  have  desired  you,  and  they  will  not  see  us."  In 
proof  of  what  I  said,  I  led  my  companion  close  to  the 
group,  speaking  aloud  as  we  advanced,  but  they  neither 
looked  up  or  noticed  us.  We  then  moved  on  to  a 
second  door  at  the  farther  end  of  the  hall,  which,  like 
the  first,  swung  open  for  our  passage  through.  Beyond 
this  door  we  found  the  scene  of  operations,  which  was 
a  stone  chamber  similar  to  the  first,  though  somewhat 
larger.  I  placed  myself  and  my  companion  at  the  foot 
of  a  broken  peristyle,  around  the  base  of  which  we 
found  a  heap  of  stones,  on  which  we  leaned  whilst  the 
following  scene  was  enacted. 

A  party  of  half  nude  fakirs,  amongst  whom  I  rec- 
ognized my  lively  little  follower  Nazir,  danced,  spun, 
and  whirled  in  a  circle  round  a  female,  who,  attired  sim- 
ply in  a  loose  white  robe,  with  bare  arms  and  feet,  and  a 
profusion  of  raven-black  tresses  falling  almost  to  the 
ground,  stood,  with  arms  folded  across  her  breast,  in  the 
centre  of  the  dancers.  These  ecstatics  whirled  round, 
each  on  his  own  pivot  as  it  were,  with  such  inconceiv- 
able rapidity  that  they  looked  like  spinning  columns 
rather  than  human  beings,  and  the  immense  charge  of 
agasa-  or  magnetism  they  liberated,  so  completely  filled 


GHOST  LAND.  431 

the  apartment  that  it  could  be  almost  seen  as  a  vapor,  as 
well  as  felt  as  a  force;  certain  it  is,  that  it  nearly  over- 
powered Graham,  who  would  have  fallen  to  the  ground 
under  its  tremendous  influence,  had  I  not  held  his 
hand  firmly  and  willed  him  to  be  calm.  At  the  upper 
end  of  the  hall  was  an  altar  covered  with  cabalistic 
characters,  on  which  were  placed  three  braziers  dis- 
pensing fumigations.  Before  the  altar  was  a  red  char- 
coal fire,  whilst  moving  around  the  fire  and  feeding  the 
brazier  with  strong,  pungent  odors,  was  the  sister  of 
Nazir,  a  Malay  woman  with  handsome  features,  bright, 
sparkling  eyes,  and  wearing  a  short,  white  tunic  edged 
with  cabalistic  signs,  and  a  sort  of  glittering  coronet, 
similarly  adorned. 

At  a  certain  portion  of  the  dance  the  whirling  fakirs 
all  paused  instantaneously,  stood  for  a  moment  motion- 
less, as  if  they  had  been  turned  to  stone  by  the  touch  of 
an  enchanter's  wand.  They  then  each  raised  their  lean 
arms  and  pointed  their  forefingers  at  the  female  in  the 
centre.  By  this  change  of  posture  Graham  was  enabled 
to  see  plainly  what  I  already  knew,  namely,  that  the 
female  was  Madame  Helene  Laval.  His  horror  and  dis- 
may at  this  discovery  had  nearly  destroyed  the  rapport 
in  which  I  held  him.  He  soon  recovered  himself,  how- 
ever, and  with  a  muttered  exclamation  resumed  his  place 
by  my  side. 

As  the  fakirs  continued  to  point  their  fingers  at  the 
lady,  her  features  assumed  an  expression  so  rapt  and 
superb,  that  my  admiration  for  the  beautiful  overcame 
my  disgust  for  her  character,  and  I  regarded  her  for  the 
time  being  with  breathless  interest.  It  is  no  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  at  this  juncture,  the  luminous  fluid  which 
streamed  from  the  outstretched  fingers  of  the  fakirs,  shone 
tongues  of  flame,  and  so  transported  their  deeply- 


432  GHOST  LAND. 

entranced  subject  that  she  tossed  her  arms  aloft,  with 
wild  cries  and  convulsive  shudderings.  At  length  she 
seemed  to  make  one  bound  high  up  in  air,  when  she  was 
held  suspended  three  feet  above  the  ground  for  several 
minutes.  At  this  sight  the  circle  of  ecstatics  around 
her  uttered  fresh  cries,  and  imitating  her  action  by  toss- 
ing their  arms  in  the  air,  prostrated  themselves,  with 
their  faces  on  the  ground,  where  they  remained  motion- 
less during  the  rest  of  what  ensued.  The  Malay  woman 
now  approached  the  floating  figure,  and  extending  her 
arms  towards  her  with  an  imperative  gesture,  whilst 
she  chanted  a  monotonous  invocation  to  the  spirits  of 
the  air,  gradually  drew  her  subject  down  to  the  earth, 
when,  taking  her  by  the  hand,  she  led  her  to  a  seat 
placed  opposite  the  fire  and  within  a  circle  traced  on 
the  ground.  From  this  point  she  commenced  a  series 
of  invocations  to  the  spirits  of  the  elements,  during 
which  she  kept  incessantly  pacing  round  and  round, 
including  the  altar,  the  fire,  and  the  lady  in  her  gyra- 
ting path,  feeding  the  fire  and  braziers  meanwhile  with 
essences,  which  continued  to  dispense  their  aromatic  and 
pungent  odors  through  the  chamber. 

To  those  Spiritualists  who  may  have  been  accustomed 
to  behold  mediums  floating  in  air  in  the  midst  of  the 
commonplaces  that  ordinarily  prevail  at  modern  spirit 
circles,  such  phenomena  may  occasion  no  surprise,  nor 
will  the  above  recital  convey  the  slightest  idea  of  the 
weird  and  ghastly  eifect  which  this  scene  produced. 
The  gloom  and  antique  solemnity  of  the  rock-hewn  cav- 
ern ;  the  strange  aspect  of  the  fetish  objects  which  sur- 
rounded us;  the  wild,  almost  demoniac  appearance  of 
the  crouching  fakirs,  and  the  half-frenzied  mistress  of 
the  rites;  but  above  all,  the  preternatural  appeara^"^ 
of  the  white-robed  ecstatic,  whose  suspension  in  air, 


GHOST  LAND.  433 

baffling  all  the  known  laws  of  nature,  must  have  been 
the  effect  of  powers  unknown  and  incomprehensible,  or 
else  the  action  of  invisible  beings  no  less  terrible  than 
the  sorceress  whom  they  aided. 

All  this  was  so  new  and  startling  to  Graham  that  I 
could  not  feel  surprised  when  he — as  brave  a  soldier 
as  ever  drew  sword — stood  grasping  my  hand,  whilst 
his  own  was  as  cold  as  death,  and  trembling  like  an 
aspen  leaf,  as  he  leaned  for  support  on  my  shoulder. 

The  following  words  form  a  rough  translation  of  the 
first  verse,  which  the  sibyl  chanted,  as  she  paced  round 
and  round  in  her  magic  circle :  — - 

"  O  beauteous  creature  of  Fire, 
Endow  this  mortal  with  thy  ardor  1 

Let  the  flame  of  her  life  draw  all  creatures  to  her  feet  in  worship  ! 
Let  her  power  consume  them 

And  burn  into  dust  and  ashes  all  who  bend  not  the  knee  before  her  I 
O  Spirit  of  Fire!    Spirit  of  Heat!      Spirit  of  Flame!      Spirit  of  the 
blazing  elements!    Hear  and  be  obedient  I  " 

Three  verses  addressed  to  the  spirits  of  the  other 
elements  followed,  but  the  ardor  of  the  language  and 
the  reckless  wickedness  which  was  implied  in  them, 
although  masked  in  the  synthetical  flow  of  the  sweet 
Shen  Tamil  language,  will  not  endure  translation. 

When  these  abominable  invocations  were  ended,  a 
sensation  of  rocking  and  quivering  followed,  which  not 
only  pervaded  our  systems,  but  seemed  to  thrill  through 
the  whole  mass  of  rock  from  which  the  ancient  fane 
was  hewn.  An  indescribable  disturbance,  too,  agitated 
the  air  around  us.  The  perception  of  a  sound  rather 
than  a  sound  itself,  wailed  in  our  ears,  something 
between  a  long-drawn  sigh  and  the  moaning  of 
the  wind.  Faint  indications  of  grotesque  forms  and 
glittering  eyes  flitted  through  the  gloomy  cavern, 
lighted  as  it  was  only  by  the  dull  glare  of  the  fire 

28 


434  GHOST  LAND. 

and  braziers,  and  tongues  of  flame  glinted  through  the 
atmosphere  everywhere.  Those  who,  like  myself,  have 
ever  taken  part  in  or  witnessed  an  act  of  combined 
Vaudooism  and  ecstacy  like  the  one  I  am  attempting  to 
describe,  will  have  experienced  what  both  Graham  and  I 
felt  at  the  time,  namely,  an  oppression  of  spirits  almost 
amounting  to  despair,  terrible  to  realize,  but  almost  im- 
possible to  express  in  words.  I  have  known  many  trav- 
ellers1 in  Oriental  lands,  who,  from  motives  of  curiosity 
or  special  interest,  have  attended  such  scenes,  and  no 
matter  how  unimpressible  they  may  have  been  by  na- 
ture, I  have  never  conversed  with  or  heard  of  one  who 
did  not  realize  something  of  the  same  kind  of  desolation 
and  abandonment  of  God  and  the  good  which  possessed 
us  on  this  occasion. 

When  the  invocations  of  the  Malay  woman  were 
ended,  she  made  a  profound  Oriental  salutation  to  Mad- 
ame Laval;  then  crossing  her  arms  upon  her  breast, 
she  stood  like  an  ebony  statue  or  an  impersonation  of  the 
spirit  of  darkness  and  thus  addressed  her  employer :  — 

Jf  What  more  would  the  daughter  of  Indra  require  of 
her  slave?  Lo,  she  is  now  fairer  than  Parvati  in  the 
eyes  of  mortals,  more  powerful  than  he  of  the  sacred 
Bull!  What  more  does  she  demand?" 

"  Anine! "  said  the  lady  in  a  tone  of  deeper  dejection 
than  I  had  ever  heard  her  clear  tones  sinking  to  before, 
"Anine,  I  have  already  proved  your  power  upon  all 
men  but  one.  He  whom  alone  I  love,  alone  has  resisted 
me ;  nay  more,  I  know  now  —  oh,  too  well,  too  well !  — 
that  he  actually  abhors  me." 

"  He  loves  another,"  said  the  Malay,  coldly.  "  Is  not 
that  enough?" 

"Hush,  hush!"  cried  the  lady,  fiercely,  "you  shall 
not  tell  me  that,  nor  do  I  yet  believe  it.  Listen  to  me, 


GHOST  LAND.  435 

woman!  You  have  a  woman's  heart  in  your  breast: 
that  I  know,  despite  your  reckless  indifference  to  the 
woes  of  others.  Is  there  nothing  you  can  do  to  help 
me,  —  nothing  yet  left  to  be  tried,  AnineV" 

Here  she  poured  out  a  tale  of  passion  so  wild  and 
fierce  that  again  my  pen  halts  before  the  attempt  to 
transcribe  her  words.  Reckless  and  pitiful,  wicked,  yet 
touching,  as  they  were,  they  afforded  terrible  evidence 
of  the  woe  and  wreck  which  human  passion  can  make 
when  once  its  stormy  power  is  suffered  to  usurp  the 
throne  of  reason. 

Anine  replied,  "Have  I  not  confessed  to  thee,  lady, 
that  this  master  of  spirits  is  stronger  than  I?  I  can  bring 
all  other  men  to  my  feet,  but  not  him.  Even  now,  it 
seems  to  me  that  his  influence  is  upon  us ;  this  place  is 
full  of  him,  and  he  beats  down  my  power  as  if  I 
thrashed  the  wind. 

"Lady,  I  have  told  you  there  is  but  one  way  left  by 
which  you  can  subdue  him:  you  must  hurt  liim, — nearly 
kill  his  body  before  you  can  touch  his  spirit ! " 

As  she  spoke,  she  advanced  to  the  space  behind  the 
altar  and  withdrew  a  dark  curtain,  when  we  at  once 
discovered  the  background  of  the  scene.  I  must 
confess  I  was  less  surprised  than  my  friend,  to  per- 
ceive that  this  veil  had  concealed  a  large,  coarse,  but 
well-executed  portrait  of  myself,  beneath  which  was  a 
waxen  image,  which  I  had  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  as 
also  intended  to  represent  me. 

Graham  started  wildly  as  this  exhibition  met  his  eyes. 
For  the  first  time,  as  it  would  seem,  the  real  truth  flashed 
upon  his  mind;  and  when  the  lady,  with  a  mixture  of 
passionate  sobs,  adjurations,  and  execrations,  began 
apostrophizing  these  effigies  in  language  that  admitted 
of  but  one  interpretation,  my  poor  friend's  agitation 


436  GHOST  LAND. 

exceeded  all  bounds,  and  would  certainly  have  destroyed 
my  power  to  shield  him  from  discovery,  had  I  not 
retained  a  strong  grasp  upon  him. 

"Let  us  go,  Chevalier!"  he  murmured.  "For  God's 
sake,  let  us  leave  this  scene  of  shame  and  horror!  Is 
this  Vaudooism?  Is  this  what  I  was  about  to  enter 
upon  with  unhallowed  purpose  and  reckless  intent?  O 
Heaven,  forgive  me  for  my  involuntary  crime ! " 

It  was  useless  to  try  and  soothe  him,  or  attempt  to 
detain  him  longer  in  a  scene  of  which  I  well  knew  he  had 
beheld  enough  already  to  effect  his  perfect  restoration  to 
a  sense  of  honor,  manliness,  and  piety.  For  myself,  I 
knew  well  enough  the  nature  of  the  performance  that  was 
to  ensue.  I  knew  also  that  whatever  it  was  would  fall 
harmless  upon  my  well-guarded  spirit.  I  have  already 
intimated  to  my  readers,  that  the  success  or  strength  and 
potency  of  all  magical  rites  lies  in  their  psychological 
effect,  or  the  power  of  mind  projected  from  one  indi- 
vidual upon  another.  Permit  me  also  to  recur  to  the 
theory  so  often  alluded  to  in  these  pages,  namely,  that 
all  the  effect  of  will  or  psychological  impress  depends 
upon  its  uninterrupted  action.  So  long  as  it  can  reach 
its  subject  without  the  intervention  of  cross-magnetism 
or  opposing  currents  it  will  surely  succeed;  but  when, 
as  in  iny  case,  the  subject  is  aware  of  the  work  in  hand, 
guarded  against  it  by  a  stronger  will  and  more  potential 
spiritual  power  than  that  of  the  operator,  the  spell  fails, 
the  potency  is  overpowered,  and  the  whole  attempt  is 
baffled. 

According  to  the  conventional  ideas  upon  which  tales 
of  fiction  are  founded,  the  writers — being  in  general 
well-meaning  persons,  who  conceive  themselves  bound 
to  uphold  what  they  term  "the  -interests  of  morality" 
—  depict  their  scenic  effects  with  a  view  to  the  "  triumph 


GHOST  LAND.  437 

of  virtue  over  vice,"  hence  the  "Vaudoo  workers'  power 
to  harm  the  pure  and  good  should  utterly  fail.  Unhap- 
pily the  physical  and  psychological  laws  of  being  do  not 
suspend  their  action  in  favor  of  the  moral.  The  pure 
and  pious  share  the  fate  of  the  wicked  and  blasphemous 
in  the  sinking  ship  or  burning  house,  and  the  good  and 
sinless  parent  is  just  as  apt,  if  not  more  so,  to  love  the 
bad  and  sinful  child  as  the  good  and  pure  one. 

Blind  force  is  inexorable,  whether  it  be  directed  in 
the  interests  of  vice  or  virtue.  Let  us  not  mistake 
laws  for  principles.  The  law  of  psychological  effect  is 
the  law  of  strength,  of  magnetic  potency,  of  positive 
and  negative  reciprocity. 

The  principles  of  good  and  evil  operate  in  circles  of 
an  entirely  different  character;  hence  the  arts  of  Vau- 
dooisin  would  and  could  affect  the  pure  and  innocent 
Blanche  Dudley,  wholly  unguarded  as  she  was  by  any 
influence  strong  enough  to  repel  the  magnetism  to  which 
having  once  yielded  she  had  become  subject.  On  me 
this  power  failed  because  I  was  positive  to  the  projector, 
and  was  enclosed,  moreover,  in  a  circle  of  influence 
which  she  could  not  penetrate. 

As  to  the  intrinsic  power  of  Vaudooism,  let  me 
endeavor  to  define  it  in  the  following  comments.  That 
wicked  spirits  both  of  mortals  and  elementaries  attend 
such  scenes  and  aid  in  the  effects  produced,  no  well- 
experienced  spiritist  can  deny;  that  the  strong  passion 
infused  into  the  rites  must  aid  their  phenomenal  power 
is  equally  certain.  The  rites  themselves,  the  chants, 
invocations,  fumigations,  and  mock  tortures  inflicted  on 
pictures,  images,  and  other  inanimate  objects,  are  abso- 
lutely worthless  either  for  good  or  harm,  save  and  except 
as  they  are  instrumental  in  stimulating  the  mind  of 
the  operators  to  psychological  fury  and  ecstatic  frenzy. 


438  GHOST  LAND. 

The  true  potency  of  all  such  scenes  lies  in  the  motive, 
the  amount  of  mental  power  infused  into  the  work,  the 
strength  of  the  will  with  which  it  is  enacted,  and  the 
attraction  which  it  has  for  evil  and  mischievous  spirits, 
who  delight  to  aid  mortals  in  such  acts  as  they  them- 
selves are  in  sympathy  with. 

It  may  be  asked,  Where,  then,  are  our  good  angels, 
and  why  do  they  not  interpose  to  save  us  from  these  dark 
and  malignant  powers?  I  answer,  They  are  ever  near; 
potential  to  aid  and  prompt  to  inspire  us  either  to  fly  from, 
or  resist  the  evil;  but  that  they  are  always  successful 
the  facts  of  human  history  emphatically  deny.  Perhaps 
coarse,  gross,  and  material  spirits  are  nearer  to  earth  than 
the  pure  and  refined.  Whatever  be  the  cause,  it  is  as  idle 
as  injurious  to  disregard  facts  for  the  sake  of  upholding 
a  theory  of  morals  which  is  only  valuable  when  it  is 
proved  to  be  practical.  (Our  best  safeguard  against 
evil  powers  and  evil  machinations  in  general,  is  to 
cultivate  a  pure  and  innocent  nature,  which  in  itself  is 
a  repelling  force  against  evil.  ^)But  when  that  pure  and 
innocent  nature  has  become  the  subject  of  magnetic  influ- 
ence, it  is  imperative  for  us  to  deal  no  longer  with  moral 
but  with  magnetic  laws,  and  these,  as  I  have  frequently 
alleged  before,  act  upon  principles  of  their  own  which 
do  not  regard  morals  at  all.  We  must  adopt  the  prin- 
ciples of  nature  as  we  find  them,  not  as  we  deem  they 
ought  to  be  nor  as  we  in  our  egotism  suppose  they 
will  become  in  deference  to  our  peculiar  excellence, 
neither  must  we  delude  ourselves  with  the  idea  that  our 
ignorance  will  shield  us  from  dangers  we  know  nothing 
about.  I  have  heard  many  well-meaning  people  affirm 
they  were  quite  safe  from  all  evil  influences,  etc.  etc., 
because  they  knew  nothing  about  such  subjects,  deem- 
ing their  security  lay  in  their  ignorance. 


GHOST  LAND.  439 

In  former  chapters  on  the  subject  of  obsession,  I  have 
referred  to  the  vast  multitude  of  obsessed  persons  whose 
example  proves  that  innocence  and  ignorance  form  no 
protection  against  the  assaults  of  evil  powers.  All 
were  attacked  indiscriminately  without  any  reference  to 
their  knowledge  or  ignorance  of  their  state.  Sweet 
young  children,  innocent  and  ignorant  enough  to  illus- 
trate this  position,  frequently  become  the  subjects  of 
obsession,  and  I  could  cite  innumerable  cases  wherein 
good  and  pure  women  have  fallen  victims  to  the  arts  of 
base-minded  psychologists,  whilst  far  less  worthy  per- 
sons, aware  of  their  danger,  have  escaped, 
f  The  true  safeguard  against  all  occult  influence  of  an 
adverse  or  malignant  character,  is  an  understanding  of 
its  nature  and  existence,  the  laws  that  govern  it  and  the 
means  of  thwarting  and  overruling  its  effects.  J  It  may 
be  very  satisfactory  to  remain  in  ignorance  of  the  fact 
that  the  midnight  marauder  is  prowling  around  our 
doors,  provided  he  takes  no  advantage  of  our  fancied 
security  to  break  in  upon  us,  but  when  we  are  aware  of 
his  presence  and  our  liability  to  danger  from  his  incur- 
sions, we  shall  be  able  to  guard  against  him  without 
any  proviso. 

KNOWLEDGE  is  POWER,  IGNORANCE  is  IMBECILITY. 

IT  is  lor  this  reason  that  I  would  induce  all  truly 
philosophical  thinkers  to  investigate  the  occult,  and 
study  out  in  the  grand  lyceum  of  nature's  laws,  the 
various  sources  of  good  and  evil  influences  by  which 
we  are  constantly  surrounded  and  constantly  affected. 
"Were  mankind  once  aware  of  its  danger  in  this,  as  in 
every  other  direction,  it  would  be  proof  against  it. 

The  limitations  of  time  and  space  forbid  my  enlarging 
upon  this  subject  further.  It  is  enough  to  know  w^hat  all 
mankind  will  sooner  or  later  realize,  namely,  that  WILL 


440  GHOST  LAND. 

is  the  sovereign  potency  ruling  creation  for  good  or 
evil;  and  until  we  educate  the  race  in  the  knowledge, 
use,  and  abuse  of  psychology,  we  shall  continue  to  sin 
and  suffer,  become  the  victims  of  blind  forces  which  are 
continually  operating  upon  us  whether  we  know  it  or 
not,  filling  the  lunatic  asylums  with  subjects  obsessed 
by  evil  spirits,  the  prisons  with  imbeciles  impressed  with 
the  contagion  of  criminal  propensities,  and  the  home, 
with  immoral  men  and  women,  laboring  under  the 
epidemic  of  evil  passions,  infused  into  their  natures 
by  the  very  atmosphere  they  breathe. 

Knowledge  and  science  to  the  rescue !     The  knowl- 
edge of  occultism  and  the  science  of  soul! 


CHAPTEK  XXIY. 

PSYCHOLOGY. 

THE  day  at  length  arrived  preceding  that  fixed  for  the 
departure  of  Lady  Blanche  Dudley  from  Calcutta. 

Early  in  the  morning  I  rode  over  to  the  viscount's 
country  house  to  communicate  my  final  arrangements  to 
Blanche,  and  inquire  how  I  could  still  further  contribute 
to  her  comfort.  The  poor  girl  perfectly  well  understood 
that  I  was  the  cause  of  her  banishment,  in  fact  she  had 
so  informed  me;  but  she  only  thanked  me  for  my  frater- 
nal care,  and  assured  me  in  her  own  gentle  way  that  she 
was  confident  I  had  studied  her  best  interest  and  happi- 
ness, and  that  she  was  quite  willing  to  go. 

Throughout  this  interview  there  was  a  dreamy,  ab- 
stracted manner  about  her  which  strangely  troubled  me. 
It  was  not  coldness  nor  absence,  but  a  sort  of  duality,  if 
I  may  use  the  term,  which  made  me  feel  as  if  it  were  not 
Blanche  who  addressed  me,  but  her  spirit  or  the  spirit 
of  another  speaking  through  her.  When  I  addressed 
her  she  listened,  but  apparently  to  some  one  else,  not 
me ;  and  in  her  answers  there  was  a  halting,  incompre- 
hensible air  of  distance  which  perplexed  and  pained  me 
inexpressibly. 

AVith  a  view  of  arousing  her  from  this  lost  condition, 
I  separated  some  of  the  flowers  I  had  brought  her  and 
attempted  to  arrange  them,  as  I  had  frequently  done 
before,  with  the  simple  fondness  I  should  have  mani- 


442  GHOST  LAND. 

fested  for  a  cherished  sister,  amongst  her  beautiful 
ringlets;  but  for  the  first  time  in  our  lives  I  believe, 
she  repelled  me,  and  shrinking  from  me  like  a  startled 
fawn,  she  waved  her  hand  in  farewell,  and  darted  out 
of  the  apartment,  nor  did  she  again  return  whilst  I  re- 
mained at  the  villa.  Like  all  individuals  susceptible  of 
spirit  influence  or  psychological  impressions,  I  am  com- 
pelled to  acknowledge  myself  to  be  a  creature  of  moods, 
for  which  I  am  not  always  prepared  to  render,  even  to 
myself,  any  sufficient  explanation.  That  night  I  knew 
the  impress  of  a  strange  and  occult  power  was  upon 
me.  An  unconquerable  restlessness  possessed  me,  peo- 
pling every  lonely  place  with  unendurable  visions,  yet 
compelling  me  to  withdraw  from  all  human  companion- 
ship. Towards  midnight  I  became  weary  of  wander- 
ing through  the  gardens  and  over  the  terraces  of  my 
own  residence,  and  wayworn  and  wretched  as  I  felt,  but 
without  any  clew  to  analyze  or  control  my  miserable 
sensations,  I  retired  to  my  own  chamber,  determined  to 
try  if  by  fastening  my  attention  on  a  mass  of  accounts 
and  other  details  of  a  business  character,  I  could  con- 
quer the  occult  influences  that  beset  me.  All  would  not 
do,  however.  I  could  neither  write,  read,  or  even  sit 
still.  Again  I  re-entered  the  gardens  of  the  once  splen- 
did, though  now  ruinous  old  villa  I  inhabited,  and 
walked  about,  without  aim,  purpose,  or  relief,  until  I 
was  foot-sore  and  weary.  At  length  I  returned  to  my 
dozing  attendants,  who  were  waiting  up  for  me.  Al- 
most as  much  aggravated  by  the  presence  of  these  poor, 
patient  drudges,  as  I  was  angry  with  myself  for  impos- 
ing upon  them,  I  hastily  dismissed  them  and  prepared 
to  retire  for  the  night,  determined  to  compel  the  sleep  I 
longed  for,  yet  dreaded.  When  I  was  but  half  un- 
dressed, the  same  restless  fit  returned  upon  me,  and  the 


GHOST  LAND.  443 

same  sense  of  a  nameless,  formless  presence  haunted 
me.  Then,  as  ever  in  my  experience,  I  found  that  when 
the  mind  is  most  disturbed,  the  lucidity  of  the  spirit  is 
most  obscured.  One  of  the  earliest  lessons  of  initiation 
I  had  to  learn  for  the  attainment  of  high  spiritual  exal- 
tation, was  self-control  and  the  entire  subjugation  of  all 
exciting  impulses,  passions,  or  emotions.  I  had  been 
taught,  and  now  believe,  that  the  highest  grades  of 
spiritual  power,  require  for  their  achievement,  a  life  of 
complete  abstinence,  chastity,  and,  as  before  stated,  the 
subjugation  not  only  of  the  passions,  but  even  of  the 
social  affections,  tastes,  and  appetites.  To  be  the  per- 
fect master  of  one's  self,  is  the  first  necessary  preparation 
for  mastery  over  others,  or  the  attainment  of  that  com- 
plete .  condition  of  mental  equilibrium  in  which  ]STature, 
with  all  her  realms  of  occult  unfoldment,  becomes  sub- 
ject to  the  power  of  the  adept.  Naturally  impulsive, 
passionate,  and  emotional,  I  know  I  should  never  have 
succeeded  in  attaining  to  the  conditions  of  spiritual  exal- 
tation I  aimed  at,  had  I  not  inherited  by  nature  those 
gifts  of  the  spirit,  which  I  had  not  passivity  enough  to 
earn  by  culture.  Still,  I  had  labored  faithfully  through 
the  probationary  exercises  enjoined  upon  me.  Already 
I  had  succeeded  in  a  thousand  self-conquests  that  few 
young  men  of  my  age  could  have  accomplished,  and  it 
was  only  at  very  rare  intervals  now,  that  poor  fallible 
human  nature  triumphed  over  the  acquired  stoicism  of 
the  adept.  The  present  occasion  however,  witnessed 
one  of  those  mental  defeats  for  which  I  had  before  paid 
many  penalties.  At  length  I  determined  that  my  wisest 
course  was  not  to  exhaust  myself  any  further  by  main- 
taining the  spiritual  warfare  that  was  distracting  me. 
"  Let  the  powers  of  evil  do  their  worst,"  I  mentally 
exclaimed,  "I  will  heed  them  no  more." 


444  GHOST  LAND. 

Throwing  myself  on  my  bed,  half  undressed  as  I  was, 
I  fell  asleep  almost  as  soon  as  my  head  touched  the 
pillow,  nor  did  I  awake  again  until  the  moon  was  low  in 
the  heavens,  and  the  stars  were  beginning  to  pale ;  then, 
and  not  till  then,  I  awoke  suddenly,  disturbed  by  a 
noise  I  could  not  at  first  distinguish  the  nature  of.  "With 
heavy,  half-closed  eyes  I  lay  still,  waiting  for  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  disturbance.  It  came  in  the  sound  of  a  low 
sob,  —  a  sob  of  woe,  a  sound  so  plaintive  and  heart- 
rending that  I  shuddered  as  I  listened.  Again  and  yet 
again,  this  piteous  moan  resounded  in  my  ears.  It  was 
no  dream;  I  soon  became  convinced  it  was  a  reality; 
that  it  came  from  the  terrace  outside  my  room,  was 
approaching  nearer  and  nearer,  and  was  now  mingled 
with  another  sound,  namely,  that  of  a  very  light,  but 
slow  footstep  on  the  veranda.  The  next  moment  a 
white,  fleecy  form  passed  through  the  open  glass  doors 
of  my  chamber,  and  bare-headed,  except  for  the  pro- 
fusion of  golden  curls  that  fell  around  her  neck  and 
shoulders,  in  a  floating  white  evening  dress,  soiled,  torn, 
and  trailing  as  if  dragged  through  brambles  and  stony 
places,  appeared  the  bending,  wayworn  form  of  the 
hapless  Blanche  Dudley.  One  glance  sufficed  to  show 
me  there  was  no  speculation  in  those  fixed  but  lustrous 
eyes  which  looked  straight  forward,  staring,  yet  heart- 
broken, into  vaca'ncy.  Her  beautiful  face  was  deathly 
pale,  she  walked  like  one  in  a  deep  sleep,  with  a  stately 
onward  motion;  yet  her  little  feet  halted,  and  were 
evidently  cut  and  bruised,  for  her  white  shoes  were  torn 
and  stained  with  blood.  Her  hands  hung  drooping  by 
her  side.  In  her  bosom  were  placed  the  flowers  I  had 
that  day  brought  her ;  but  except  for  the  white  gauze 
evening  dress  she  wore,  she  had  no  shelter  from  the 
chill  night  air,  more  chill  at  that  season  of  the  year  and 


GHOST  LAND.  445 

hour  of  the  night,  than  is  often  experienced  even  in 
northern  latitudes. 

As  she  passed  through  the  open  doors  of  my  room,  she 
walked  forward  with  the  automatic  air  of  a  magnetized 
subject,  until  she  reached  the  foot  of  my  bed,  when  she 
paused,  uttered  a  low  cry,  as  if  she  had  been  suddenly 
struck,  and  sank  to  the  ground,  where  she  lay  on  the 
lace  that  shaded  the  couch,  like  a  mass  of  newly-fallen 
snow. 

To  extricate  myself  from  the  enclosing  curtains,  so 
arranged  as  to  protect  the  sleeper  from  the  insects  of 
that  tropical  land,  and  raise  the  white  and  seemingly 
lifeless  form  from  the  ground,  was  but  the  work  of  a 
few  moments ;  but  even  as  I  held  her  in  my  arms,  almost 
paralyzed  for  the  instant  with  astonishment  and  dismay, 
the  flash  of  lights  from  without  streamed  into  my 
chamber,  and  seven  or  eight  Brahmins,  who  were  asso- 
ciated with  me  in  one  of  the  most  important  occult  soci- 
eties to  which  I  belonged,  appeared  upon  the  veranda, 
some  of  them  deliberately  entering  the  room,  others 
standing  without  and  gazing  upon  me  sternly  through 
the  open  doors. 

??  In  the  name  of  Heaven,"  I  cried,  choking  with  rage 
and  indignation,  "what  do  you  want  here,  gentlemen?  " 

:f  We  have  come  here  to  convince  ourselves  that  an 
evil  tale  we  have  heard  of  your  unworthiness,  Louis  de 

B ,  is  no  slander,"  said  one  of  the  oldest  of  my 

visitors,  a  noble  Guroo,  to  whom,  as  one  of  my  teachers, 
I  had  pledged  myself  in  the  most  solemn  vows  to 
observe  for  a  given  time  the  strictest  asceticism  in 
thought,  word,  and  deed. 

"What,  sir!"  I  answered  indignantly,  "have  you 
then  the  right  to"  enter  my  private  apartments,  intrude 
upon  my  most  sacred  hours  of  retirement,  and  invade 


446  GHOST  LAND. 

every  custom  of  honor  and  good-breeding  in  this 
fashion?"  I  had  laid  the  unfortunate  lady  on  a  divan 
as  I  saw  the  strangers  at  my  window,  and  now  stood 
between  her  and  the  invaders. 

"Louis,"  said  the  first  speaker,  advancing  towards 
me  mildly  but  firmly,  "  we  have  been  this  night  informed, 
that  by  your  arts  you  have  lured  away  an  unfortunate 
lady  from  her  home,  and  beguiled  her  here  for  her 
destruction.  You  know  the  awful  penalties  you  incur 
for  breaking  your  vows  during  the  time  you  have 
pledged  to  fulfil  them;  but  even  the  honor  due  to  our 
order  is  as  nothing  compared  to  the  duty  we,  as  your 
spiritual  fathers,  are  called  upon  to  perform,  when  we 
attempt  to  save  you  from  the  base  act  with  which  you 
are  charged." 

c  Who  charges  me?  "  I  asked. 

"  One  who  is  himself  a  neophyte  of  our  order,"  an- 
swered the  Guroo. 

"Ferdinand  Perrault,"  said  a  low  voice  at  my  side, 
and  turning  hastily  round,  I  saw  the  shrouded  form  and 
cowled  head  of  the  Byga,  Chundra  ud  Deen. 

Before  I  could  appeal  to  him,  as  I  knew  I  could  suc- 
cessfully, for  aid  in  my  dreadful  emergency,  he  glided 
quietly  up  to  a  group  of  statues  placed  in  a  distant  part 
of  the  chamber,  interspersed  with  rose-trees  and  trop- 
ical plants,  and  adding  in  his  low  but  thrilling  voice, 
"and  here  is  the  enchantress,"  he  dragged  forward, 
seemingly  by  his  own  volition  rather  than  any  force  he 
used,  a  masked  and  veiled  female,  who  had  up  to  that 
moment  been  concealed  amongst  the  trees  and  statues. 
This  person  the  Byga'  led  forward,  obviously  with  no 
effort  on  his  part,  but  with  a  terrible  show  of  reluctance 
and  terror  on  hers,  until  he  placed  her  in  the  centre  of 
the  group  that  clustered  around  me.  In  an  instant  I 


GHOST  LAND.  447 

had  dragged  the  veil  from  her  head  and  the  mask  from 
her  face,  discovering,  as  I  was  confident  I  should,  the 
deathly  pale  yet  defiant  features  of  Madame  Helene 
Laval. 

"  See  how  you  have  wronged  me,  gentlemen ! "  I 
exclaimed  passionately.  w  Here  is  the  demon  that  has 
wrought  this  destruction.  Here  is  the  enchantress  by 
whose  remorseless  arts  this  unhappy  lady,  her  trusting 
friend,  her  warm-hearted  defender,  her  most  miserable 
magnetic  subject,  has  been  drawn  hither,  whilst  you 
have  simply  been  invited  to  bear  witness  to  the  shame 
and  ruin  this  fiend  has  planned."  Who  could  doubt  or 
misunderstand  further  the  character  of  this  foul  plot? 
Long  before  she  had  any  such  vile  purposes  to  gain  by 
her  arts,  Madame  Laval  had  openly  boasted  of  her 
magnetic  control  over  the  hapless  Lady  Blanche  Dud- 
ley, and  by  way  of  what  she  called  w  interesting  psycho- 
logical experiments,"  she  had  on  several  occasions 
exhibited  her  power  by  biologizing  the  unconscious*  -and 
innocent  victim  to  her  side,  when  she  was  at  some  dis- 
tance from  her.  Who  could  have  conceived  those  powers, 
which  appeared  to  have  been  exercised  merely  in  pas- 
time on  the  one  side  by  an  interested  student  of  spirit- 
ual science,  and  on  the  other  by  a  pure,  unsuspecting, 
and  loving-hearted  friend,  could  thus  have  been  turned 
to  the  base  design  of  destroying  that  friend's  peace  of 
mind  and  honorable  name,  to  say  nothing  of  the  shame 
and  disgrace  intended  to  fall  upon  me. 

Had  I  been  sufficiently  composed  to  have  noted  the 
details  of  the  sad  scene  in  which  I  was  engaged,  I 
could  not  have  failed  to  remark  the  extraordinary  palsy 
of  fear  or  mental  subjugation  that  had  fallen  on  the 
once  commanding  Helene.  She  stood  with  eyes  glar- 
ing fury  and  defiance,  yet  vainly  striving  to  protest 


448  GHOST  LAND. 

her  innocence.  A  spell  stronger  than  her  own  over- 
powered her,  and  so  long  as  the  clasp  of  the  shrouded 
Byga  was  on  her  arm  she  could  only  glance  fiercely 
from  one  to  the  other  of  those  who  surrounded  her 
without  being  able  to  utter  an  intelligible  sentence.  As 
to  the  Brahmins,  they  knew  and  really  trusted  me.  My 
kind  friend,  I^anak  Hai,  was  one  of  their  party,  and  my 
little  fakir,  Nazir,  flitted  from  one  to  another,  explaining 
to  them  who  this  new  intruder  on  the  scene  really  was, 
and  the  arts  she  had  practised  with  his  sister  Anine,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  subduing  me  and  injuring  the 
poor  innocent  lady. 

!?  This  is  all  my  sister's  work,"  cried  the  little  fakir 
impetuously.  "  Alas,  alas !  that  ever  the  blood  of  Nazir 
Sahib  should  flow  in  the  veins  of  so  base  a  Chandala! 
But  O  my  fathers !  "  he  cried,  suddenly  starting  into  a 
new  passion  and  gesticulating  towards  the  gardens 
with  frantic  energy,  "  there  is  still  worse  woe  in  store 
for  the  innocent  ones.  Hide  the  poor  lady,  Chevalier! 
Hide  her,  if  you  value  her  life!  Yonder  comes  her 
proud  uncle,  led  on  by  that  base-born  son  of  a  Sudra, 
Perrault.  See  where  they  come  with  torches  in  search 
of  the  absent  lady,  whom  Perrault  well  knows  is  to  be 
found  in  this  fatal  place.  We  are  too  late!  "  he  added, 
dropping  into  the  background.  "  The  enemy  is  upon 
us."  He  was  right,  for  before  any  of  us  could  recover 
from  the  shock  his  disclosures  occasioned,  the  Viscount 

R ,  accompanied  by  Perrault,  and  a  nephew  of  his, 

who  happened  to  be  visiting  at  the  house  wrhen  the 
absence  of  the  unfortunate  Lady  Blanche  was  discov- 
ered, entered  the  apartment  from  the  gardens  without. 
Lady  Blanche  had,  as  I  afterwards  learned,  been  miss- 
ing since  ten  o'clock  that  evening. 

Knowing  how  fond  she  was  of  rambling  through  the 


GHOST  LAND.  449 

gardens  by  moonlight,  the  domestics  had  been  despatched 
in  every  direction  to  seek  and  recall  her.  Hour  after 
hour  passed  away  in  fruitless  search,  and  it  was  about 
an  hour  after  midnight,  and  just  as  the  infamous  Per- 
rault  knew  that  his  sister's  horrible  scheme  must  be  on 
the  eve  of  accomplishment,  that  he  appeared  before  the 
viscount,  simulating  haste  and  an  eager  desire  to  serve 
an  afflicted  family,  with  the  terrible  tidings  that  he  had 
beeen  informed  by  the  famous  Yaudoo  woman,  Anine, 

that  I,  "the  Chevalier  de  B ,"   had  been  working 

charms  to  entice  the  hapless  girl  to  my  residence,  and 
that  she  was  in  all  probability  there  even  at  that  very 
moment.  When  this  piece  of  intelligence  was  first  com- 
municated to  the  proud  nobleman,  the  tale-bearer  had 
nearly  lost  his  life  for  his  pains,  so  infuriated  did  the 
viscount  become  at  what  he  deemed  a  shameful  slander; 
but  when  Perrault  had  succeeded  in  evading  his  first 
explosion  of  wrath,  and  reiterated  again  and  again  the 
truth  of  his  assertions,  the  viscount  called  upon  his 
nephew,  who  was  then  on  a  visit  at  his  house,  for  advice 
and  aid.  It  was  agreed  between  them  that  Perrault 
should  be  their  prisoner,  and  either  make  good  his 
words  or  pay  the  penalty  of  their  utterance.  They 
compelled  him,  therefore,  to  enter  the  carriage  with 
them,  in  which  they  drove  off,  with  a  speed  inadequate 
to  satisfy  their  frantic  impatience,  to  my  residence. 

Such  were  the  circumstances  that  complicated  the 
scene  of  misery  which  surrounded  me  on  that  fatal 
night.  I  believe  it  was  to  the  preternatural  power  of 
the  Byga,  and  the  steady,  calm  friendship  of  Nanak  Rai, 
that  I  owed  the  preservation  of  my  senses  throughout 
those  trying  hours;  certainly  it  was  due  to  the  latter's 
humanity  and  firm  control  over  me  that  Madame  Helene 
Laval  and  her  infamous  brother  escaped  from  my  hands 

29 


450  GHOST  LAND. 

with  their  lives.  It  was  also  to  the  Brahmin's  force  of 
character,  commanding  presence,  and  clear,  straightfor- 
ward explanation  that  I  owed  my  own  life,  which  the 
viscount  was  determined  to  sacrifice  the  moment  he 
found  that  the  unfortunate  Lady  Blanche  was  in  my 
chamber. 

"  Be  still,  all  of  you,"  said  the  good  man,  w  and  listen 
to  the  story  I  have  to  tell."  He  then,  in  simple,  earnest 
language,  gave  the  sum  of  my  fakir's  narrative;  a  con- 
cise but  scathing  description  of  the  arts  practised  by 
Madame  Laval,  and  a  glowing  account  of  myself, 
and  my  incapacity,  as  he  steadily  affirmed,  for  the  base 
part  attributed  to  me.  He  dared  Madame  Laval  or  her 
brother  to  controvert  his  statements;  and  when  both 
these  wretched  and  baffled  plotters  were  silent,  he 
pointed  as  the  climax  of  his  evidence,  to  the  unfortu- 
nate girl,  who,  still  under  the  spell  of  the  somnambulic 
trance,  lay  extended  on  the  divan  where  I  had  placed 
her.  Putting  me  gently  aside  as  I  stood  by  to  guard 
her,  —  the  only  poor  act  of  reparation  I  could  now 
make,  —  this  kind  and  true  gentleman,  who  was  also  a 
well-skilled  magnetizer,  took  her  tenderly  by  the  hand, 
and  set  her  on  her  feet,  still  unconscious  as  she  was,  in 
our  midst. 

Her  forlorn  and  wayworn  appearance,  her  torn  dress, 
blood-stained  shoes,  dishevelled  curls,  and  the  indescrib- 
able aspect  of  woe  and  innocence  that  marked  those  set 
and  rigid  features,  the  soiled  and  fluttering  rags  of  her 
fleecy  evening  dress,  and  the  fact  that  the  hapless  girl 
had  been  dragged  for  more  than  seven  long  miles 
through  a  rough  country  during  a  chill  night,  and 
amidst  dangers  that  froze  the  blood  to  reflect  upon, — 
all  these  circumstances  combined,  had  the  effect  which 
the  wise  pleader  expected  they  would.  The  viscount 


GHOST  LAND.  451 

turned  aside  his  head,  and  buried  his  face  in  his  hand- 
kerchief; the  good  Brahmins  murmured  words  of  pity; 
and  even  the  ruthless  enchantress  was  moved,  and  hid 
her  face  from  the  sight  of  her  much-wronged  victim  in 
the  folds  of  her  veil.  At  that  moment  a  strange  phe- 
nomenon appeared  amongst  us. 

Above  that  young,  sunny  head,  so  beautiful,  yet  so 
touching  in  its  innocence  and  desolation,  appeared  what 
seemed  to  be  at  first,  a  little  glimmering  light,  a  spark 
no  larger  than  a  fire-fly,  which  might  have  been  impris- 
oned in  her  golden  curls ;  but  presently  it  increased  in 
size,  expanded  and  diffused  into  a  luminous,  misty  halo, 
which  increased  in  extent  and  brilliancy  until  it  formed 
a  complete  coronet  of  glory  above  and  around  the  beau- 
tiful somnambulist's  head. 

I  know  not  what  may  have  been  the  experience  of 
others.  I  have  frequently  heard  the  spiritists  since  then 
describe  the  beauty  of  the  spirit  lights  they  have  seen 
and  the  variety  of  the  modes  in  which  these  luminous 
appearances  were  made  visible.  I  only  know  that  never 
before  or  since  have  I  beheld  any  phenomenon  of  this 
kind,  so  directly  in  contact  with  a  mortal,  never  any 
sign  of  angelic  presence  and  guardianship  that  produced 
upon  the  witnesses  so  deep,  reverent,  and  hallowing  an 
influence.  In  the  midst  of  the  hush  which  ensued  as 
this  phenomenon  became  perfected,  the  good  Brahmin 
said  in  his  gentlest  accents,  "  Blanche,  my  child,  what 
brings  you  here?  Answer  as  if  you  were  in  the  pres- 
ence of  your  God." 

^She  is  in  the  presence  of  her  God,  Brahmin,"  replied 
the  entranced  lips  of  Blanche,  though  the  voice  and 
accent  was  that  of  another.  "Her  spirit  is  with  the 
angels,  and  a  stronger  than  her  shall  answer  you. 
There  is  the  cause  of  her  coming,"  and  as  she  spoke, 


452  GHOST  LAND. 

she  advanced  with  a  stately  step  towards  the  veiled 
figure  of  Helene,  who  was  still  held  firmly  by  one  of  the 
Brahmins, — for  tlie  Byga  was  gone.  "With  an  authori- 
tative gesture  she  threw  back  Madame  Laval's  veil,  and 
then  said  in  a  deep  and  searching  tone,  "  Answer,  Helene 
de  Laval.  Why  have  you  brought  hither  Blanche  Dud- 
ley? By  what  power  and  for  what  purpose?  Answer! 
for  you  are  in  the  presence  of  your  God !  "  There  was 
not  an  individual  there  who  did  not  experience  a  thrill 
of  awe  as  that  slight  creature,  now  seemingly  a  tall  and 
stately  presence,  stood  like  an  accusing  angel,  encircled 
by  a  halo  of  divine  light,  confronting  her  evil  genius. 

'What  have  I  done?"  murmured  the  dark-browed 
sibyl,  the  psychological  spell  evidently  becoming  re- 
versed, and  the  frail  subject  commanding  the  operator. 

"  Speak  the  truth,  Helene,  and  answer !  "  repeated  the 
beautiful  ecstatic  in  a  voice  that  made  her  enemy 
shudder. 

"  I  lured  her  hither  by  my  power  of  will,"  muttered 
the  sibyl,  as  if  each  word  were  wrung  from  her  by 
tortures. 

"For  what  purpose?"  thundered  the  viscount.  "An- 
swer that,  foul  enchantress ! " 

But  Helene  heard  him  not;  she  was  wholly  in  the 
power  of  one  magnetizer,  and  under  that  spell  she  had 
no  senses  for  any  other.  The  hand  of  the  somnambu- 
list was  laid  on  her  arm  and  she  was  enthralled. 

"For  what  purpose?  "  repeated  Blanche,  turning  with 
mild  dignity  upon  the  viscount.  "  Can  you  ask?  Know 
you  not  she  purposed  to  destroy  the  name  and  fame  of 
her  victim?" 

"  Let  her  confess  it,  then,"  said  one  of  the  Brahmins, 
fiercely. 

"  Enough  has  been  said  to  right  the  wrong  and  clear 


GHOST  LAND.  453 

the  innocent,"  answered  the  sleeper,  with  inexpressible 
sweetness  and  command.  *  Vengeance  is  mine,  saith 
the  Lord,  I  will  requite;"  then  releasing  the  arm  of 
Madame  Laval,  she  clasped  her  own  fair  hands  together, 
and  raising  her  eyes  to  heaven  with  an  ecstatic  expres- 
sion impossible  to  describe,  she  murmured,  "Forgive 
us  our  trespasses  as  we  forgive  them  that  trespass 
against  us !  " 

The  halo  then  gradually  faded  from  her  head.  l^anak 
stretched  out  his  arms  to  receive  her,  as  a  father  would 
have  sheltered  his  child;  then  raising  her  as  if  she  had 
been  an  infant,  at  a  sign  from  me  he  carried  her  through 
the  glass  doors,  and  down  to  where  the  viscount's  car- 
riage waited  below.  It  was  then  that,  as  if  moved  by  a 
burst  of  honest  indignation  which  would  no  longer  endure 
repression,  the  fakir  Nazir  exclaimed,  "  She  is  a  hard 
and  cruel  woman  that !  "  pointing  to  Helene,  who  stood 
confronting  us  all  with  an  expression  of  the  fiercest 
rage  and  hardihood. 

"  She  deserves  the  reprobation  of  men  as  well  as  the 
judgments  of  Bramah.  I  know  not  how  far  she  naay 
have  come  with  her  poor  victim,  but  I  saw  her  riding  in 
her  carriage  over  the  rough  roads  and  stony  paths, 
whilst  the  sweet  young  lady,  in  her  unsheltered  gar- 
ments and  her  little  feet  torn  and  bleeding,  toiled  on 
behind  her.  She  went  on  like'  one  in  her  sleep,  ever 
straight  forward,  over  rough  ways  and  smooth,  whilst 
yon  woman  leaned  from  her  carriage-window,  and  beck- 
oned to  her  with  her  hand,  and  mocked  her  with  her 
mouth,  and  laughed  and  jeered  at  her.  I  heard  her 
cry,  < Faster,  my  gay  bird!  Come  on  faster,  faster  yet! 
I  am  guiding  you  to  your  bridegroom,  my  pretty  piece 
of  purity,  and  we  '11  have  a  fine  wedding  before  the  stars 
are  set;  and  many  a  one  shall  hear  how  the  fine  Lady 


454  GHOST  LAND. 

Blanche  Dudley  offered  herself  to  an  unwilling  lover 
before  another  sun  has  set  upon  her  dishonored  head.' ': 

I  dashed  my  hand  over  the  fakir's  mouth  and  bade  him 
be  silent  or  I  would  call  him  to  account  for  not  rescuing 
her.  Some  of  the  Brahmins  then  took  a  kind  leave  of 
me,  whilst  others  remained  to  offer  me  service.  Leaving 
the  detested  brother  and  sister  in  their  charge,  and  the 
fakir  engaged  in  telling  his  story  to  the  viscount,  I 
went  out  to  seek  Nanak,  whom  I  found  standing  at  the 
carriage-window,  speaking  in  his  own  kind,  fatherly  way, 
words  of  cheer  and  consolation  to  the  now  awakened 
lady,  who  was  weeping  bitterly.  Gently  pushing  him 
aside  I  sprang  into  the  carriage,  and  taking  a  seat  by 
her  side,  with  my  arms  closely  folded  round  her,  I  whis- 
pered, "  The  day  has  dawned,  my  Blanche ;  the  day 
that  is  to  see  you  leave  not  for  your  father's,  but  for 
your  husband's  home. 

"  Let  your  maids  attire  you  in  your  simplest,  whitest 
robe,  my  Blanche.  Let  them  smooth  these  poor,  disor- 
dered tresses,  and  place  in  them  the  sweet  white  flowers 
I  will  send  you,  and  at  eight  o'clock  to-night  I  will  be 
with  you,  and  in  the  face  of  friends  and  enemies  you 
shall  give  me  a  husband's  right  to  shield  you  henceforth 
from  every  harm  that  may  befall  so  long  as  you  and  I 
do  stay  in  life  on  earth."  A  few  more  whispered  words 
of  cheer  and  promise,  and  then  I  left  her. 

'Your  carriage  waits  you,  madame,"  I  said  to  the 
now  closely-veiled  form  of  the  woman  who  encountered 
me  on  the  threshold  of  my  door.  "  No  words !  There 
is  your  place." 

I  saw  my  servants  hand  her  in,  and  then  bid  the 
coachman  drive  her  away. 

w  Not  so  fast,  sir ! "  I  said,  as  I  saw  her  brother  hasten- 
ing after  the  carriage,  which  he  tried  to  detain. 


GHOST  LAND.  455 

f?  Let  me  go !  "  he  screamed,  as  I  seized  and  dragged 
him  back.  "You  wouldn't  murder  me,  would  you? 
Help !  "  he  shouted.  "  I  am  being  strangled,  murdered ! " 

"  What  would  you  do,  Louis  ?  "  exclaimed  Nanak,  vainly 
trying  to  extricate  the  struggling  wretch  from  my  grasp. 
"  Let  him  go,  I  say !  You  shall  not  steep  your  soul  in 
sin  for  such  a  worm  as  that.  Nay,  I  command  you  by 
a  word  you  muSt  obey !  "  • 

The  word  was  spoken  and  I  was  disarmed. 

w  I  '11  have  a  reckoning  with  him  yet,"  I  muttered,  all 
the  Hindoo  in  my  veins  rising  against  the  wretch  upon 
whom  I  had  resolved  to  avenge  his  own  no  less  than  his 
sister's  villany.  At  this  moment  the  viscount  and  his 
nephew  joined  the  Brahmin  hi  pleading  for  the  pol- 
troon's escape. 

,  Contenting  myself  for  the  present  with  hurling  him 
amongst  the  bushes  and  rank  weeds  of  the  garden,  I 
bid  him  remember,  my  hour  of  full  requital  was  yet  to 
come. 

That  night,  at  eight  o'clock,  saw  me  the  husband  of 
sweet,  pure,  innocent  Blanche  Dudley.  Her  haughty 
uncle  was  well  satisfied,  and  her  own  loving,  guileless 
heart  leaped  with  the  purest  joy  she  had  ever  known  on 
earth.  As  to  me,  I  bid  farewell  to  my  hopes  of  life 
amongst  the  stars,  to  the  mysteries  of  the  occult,  my 
dreams  of  spiritual  exaltation,  and  all  my  wanderings  in 
the  realms  of  supernal  glory. 

Hopes  and  aspirations,  —  all  were  dashed  to  the  earth, 
and  I  set  myself  lovingly,  tenderly  to  fulfil  the  life  of  new 
duties  that  honor  and  compassion  had  thrust  upon  me. 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 

BLANCHE'S*  DIABT. 

IT  was  just  nine  years  from  the  time  when  I  parted 
with  the  excellent  friend  whom  I  still  delight  to  call  by 
the  familiar  name  of  John  Cavendish  Dudley,  that  I 
became  the  husband  of  his  most  beloved  and  cherished 
youngest  daughter.  I  knew  that  this  event  would  fulfil 
the  dearest  wishes  of  himself  and  his  amiable  wife,  but 
when  I  parted  from  him  and  listened  to  his  pathetic 
lamentation  that  he  might  never  hope  to  call  me  his  son, 
little  did  I  think  that  I  should  return  to  him  in  the  very 
character  he  so  earnestly  desired  me  to  fill. 

I  had  resolved  to  spend  the  year  which  succeeded  my 
marriage  in  closing  up  every  engagement  that  could 
bind  me  to  the  land  of  my  birth.  For  eight  months  I 
spent  my  time  partly  in  these  arrangements  and  partly 
in  the  effort  to  embellish  the  life  of  the  sweet  and  loving 
creature  I  had  taken  to  my  arms,  if  not  entirely  to  my 
heart.  Heaven  knows  how  completely  she  deserved  the 
devotion  of  heart,  life,  and  all  that  life  could  give,  in 
return  for  the  sinless  nature  and  undivided  affection  she 
laid  upon  the  altar  of  her  young  heart's  idolatry ! 

I  had  planned  our  departure  for  the  close  of  our 
marriage  year.  It  was  all  one  to  Blanche,  —  anywhere 
with  me.  To  follow  the  movement  of  my  finger,  or 
anticipate  the  glance  of  my  eye,  made  up  the  sum  of 
her  life's  occupation;  yet  she  was  no  mere  automatic 


GHOST  LAND.  457 

companion.  Her  bright  intellect  and  vivid  imagination 
might  have  far  eclipsed  her  wayward  husband's,  had  not 
her  passionate  admiration  for  him  and  her  modest  diffi- 
dence of  herself,  kept  her  own  brilliant  powers  of  mind 
in  abeyance. 

Eight  months  had  passed  away,  when  duties  of  an 
urgent  and  personal  nature  demanded  my  presence  in  a 
distant  province.  My  fair  bride  had  scarcely  quitted 
my  sight  since  our  marriage,  yet  now  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  escape  this  journey,  equally  impossible  that 
she  should  accompany  me.  The  hated  enemies  to  whom, 
if  I  owed  them  anything  but  abhorrence,  I  owed  the 
precious  boon  of  my  little  girl's  companionship,  had 
never  appeared  on  the  panorama  of  our  lives  since  the 
momentous  night  described  in  the  last  chapter;  indeed, 
I  had  not  even  heard  of  them,  save  a  report  that 
Madame  Helene  had  become  a  devotee  to  a  new  sect  of 
religionists  just  arisen  in  the  land,  and  that  her  scoun- 
drel brother  had  succeeded  in  worming  himself  into  a  good 
official  position.  The  very  names  of  these  people  were 
tabooed  in  my  household  and  amongst  all  who  visited 
us;  indeed,  we  saw  but  few  persons  who  could  remind 
us  of  them,  for  the  circle  in  which  my  own  and  my 
Blanche's  relatives  moved  were  closed  against  them. 
No  cloud  dimmed  the  lustre  of  those  sweet  blue  eyes, 
ever  fixed  on  me  with  an  expression  of  mute  adoration. 

No  sorrow  had  ever  stained  that  blooming  face  with 
one  tear,  since  the  night  when  I  called  Blanche  my  own. 
Her  aunt  and  uncle  were  very  proud  of  her,  and  con- 
stantly urged  us  to  spend  our  time  with  them,  but  she 
loved  her  husband's  home  better  than  any  place  on  earth; 
and  to  care  for  the  flowers  I  admired,  arrange  my  books, 
statues,  paintings,  or  make  the  old  ruinous  villa  I  rented, 
ring  with  the  music  of  her  delightful  voice  or  the  thrill- 


458  GHOST  LAND. 

ing  chords  of  her  plaintive  harp,  was  happiness  enough 
for  Blanche. 

My  fakirs  often  entertained  her  with  their  wondrous 
feats  of  incomprehensible  art,  and  even  those  apathetic 
ascetics  would  raise  their  dull  heads  and  smile,  or  their 
veiled  eyes  would  light  up  with  gleams  of  pleasure,  as 
they  heard  the  ringing  laugh  of  the  bright  fairy,  or  the 
merry  sound  of  her  little  hands  as  she  clapped  them  in 
wondering  admiration  at  their  tours  deforce. 

She  had  many  living  pets  also  amongst  odd  birds  and 
stray  animals  whom  she  coaxed  into  companionship  with 
her.  She  tooted  great  delight  in  "  educating  "  them,  as 
she  called  it,  and  talked  to  them  as  if  they  understood 
her.  I  think  they  did,  and  listened  to  her  childish  wis- 
dom .and  womanly  play  with  as  much  solemn  admira- 
tion as  did  any  or  all  the  dependents  who  approached 
her. 

But  what  did  all  this  lead  to?  Let  me  turn  again  the 
pages  of  the  only  record  that  remains  to  tell  how  the 
last  act  was  played  out.  That  record  is  her  own  jour- 
nal, written  evidently  with  a  prophetic  view  of  how  it 
would  some  day  be  needed,  and  how  it  would  become  a 
silent  witness  of  the  tale  no  human  lips  have  ever 
spoken.  I  found  it  in  the  loneliness  of  a  cold  and  empty 
room  from  which  the  life  had  fled  and  the  sunshine  died 
out;  when  the  ringing  laugh  was  hushed,  the  wonderful 
Voice  silent,  and  the  harpstrings  run  down  or  snapped 
forever.  The  extracts  that  relate  to  the  crisis  of  which 
I  am  .now  writing  ran  thus:  — 

"  Jan.  10,  18 — .     O  mother,  mother,  how  I  wish  you 
could  see  me  now !    Dearest  sisters,  would  you  not  al- 
most envy  me?     I  do  believe  you  would,  just  a  little,— 
though  all  the  time  you  would  rejoice  for  me,  for  I  am 
sure  you  used  to  admire  that  f  magnificent  Chevalier,' 


GHOST  LAND.  459 

as  we  were  accustomed  to  call  him,  almost  as  much  as  I 

did  when  he  was  amongst  us  at  N" .      But  O  my 

mother  and  sisters !  what  is  the  admiration  which  you 
and  I  and  every  one  else  must  feel  for  my  Louis,  com- 
pared to  the  love  which  moves  my  heart,  not  because 
he  is  so  handsome,  but  because  he  is  himself,  and  O 
Heaven !  because  he  is  so  good  and  kind  and  dear  to 
me !  How  could  I  fail  to  love  him?  And  yet  I  think  you 
would  laugh  to  see  what  a  little  creature  I  am,  when  f 
take  his  arm  and  try  to  look  dignified  and  keep  pace 
with  him  as  we  enter  Uncle  Frederick's  salon,  or  go  to 
the  numerous  receptions  we  have  to  attend.  Louis  is 
so  tall  and  stately  and  splendid,  whilst  as  to  me,  I  am — 
no  matter  what.  He  says  I  am  a  "  little  sprig  of  summer 
and  winter;  a  snow-flake  and  a  rose-bud  in  one,"  and 
only  just  fit  to  stick  in  his  button-hole.  But  ah,  my 
mother!  I  wish  you  were  near  me  just  now.  Shall  I 
ever  see  you  more,  —  ever,  ever  tell  you  how  much  bet- 
ter I  have  understood  what  mother's,  love  is  within  the 
last  few  months?  I  know  not.  Aunt  Emily  tells  me 
all  young  creatures,  when  they  hover  on  the  wonderful 
verge  of  the  new  path,  the  path  that  reaches  heaven 
through  the  life  of  a  new-born  being,  all  tremble  and 
shrink,  and  fear  to  enter  upon  that  awful  responsibility, 
and  think  they  cannot  live  to  go  through  with  the 
mighty  change.  I  have  no  fear;  on  the  contrary,  I 
have  sometimes  a  hope,  a  strange,  unnatural  hope  per- 
haps ;  it  is  that  my  good  and  noble  Louis,  my  generous 
husband,  who  never  was  my  lover,  only  my  friend  and 
protector,  —  that  he  will  be  released  again,  and  become 
free  to  follow  the  lead  of  his  towering  mind  and  lofty 
inspirations.  I  know  not!  I  have  written  these  words 
before,  and  feel  now  as  if  they  were  not  true,  for  I  do 
know;  I  know  that  in  the  midst  of  all  my  great  joy, 


460  GHOST  LAND. 

there  is  ever  a  strange  dimness  upon  me.  Even  when 
my  Louis  hides  me  away  in  his  heart,  —  there  where  I 
am  safest  and  strongest,  or  when  I  am  looking  up  into 
his  splendid  eyes,  so  kind,  so  true,  that  everything  false 
or  unholy  quails  beneath  them,  even  then  the  dimness 
comes,  comes  between  me  and  the  light  that  sparkles  in 
the  dark  eyes  of  my  Louis." 

w  Jan.  20.  There  is  a  great  secret  constantly  pressing 
upon  my  mind  and  ever  urging  me  to  confide  in  him; 
yet  just  as  I  am  on  the  point  of  doing  so,  I  see  upon 
his  face  that  sad,  appealing  look  I  have  before  referred 
to,  that  look  which  pierces  my  heart  like  the  eye  of  Fate, 
and  seems  to  plead  with  me  to  spare  him  further  sorrow. 

"  No,  I  have  not  the  heart  to  tell  him,  and  don't  know 
that  I  shall  ever  be  able  to  do  so,  though  I  think  I  ought. 
Would  I  could  banish  the  remembrance  of  it !  Perhaps, 
if  I  write  about  it,  it  will  fade  away  like  the  ghost  of  a 
haunting  air,  which  only  needs  singing  to  chase  it 
away.  Yes,  I  will  write  it  down;  perhaps  it  may  some 
day  explain  away  what  is  mysterious  when  —  when  —  I 
know  not  what.  —  That  doubt  of  the  future  again! 
G-od^s  future.  Why  then  should  I  fear  it?  But  to  my 
secret. 

Just  before  I  met  my  Louis  for  the  first  time  in  India, 
Helene,  she  whom  I  so  loved  once,  and  alas!  so 
tenderly  think  of  still,  that  Helene  who  was  then  so 
very  dear  to  me,  so  kind,  so  wise,  so  strong, —  she  asked 
me  for  a  long  curl  of  my  hair.  She  said  it  would  serve 
to  bring  us  together  at  any  time,  and  I  knew  it  would, 
for  she  proved  it  and  taught  me  how.  When  I  gave 
her  leave  to  cut  off  that  curl,  how  I  shivered,  and  felt  as 
if  a  part  of  my  life  had  gone  out  from  me ;  but  I  did  not 
mind  it  then.  She  asked  me  afterwards  to  give  her 
a  locket  or  something  I  had  worn,  to  enclose  a  piece 


GHOST  LAND.  461 

of  the  hair  in.  She  was  quite  particular  in  asking  for 
something  that  I  had  worn,  so  I  gave  her  a  small  gold 
locket  that  my  dearest  sister  Edith  had  given  me  for  a 
keepsake  when  we  were  both  children.  Edith  and  I 
have  exchanged  many  presents  since  then,  so  I  did  n't 
mind  parting  with  this  trifle  to  Helene,  especially  as  she 
preferred  it  to  all  the  other  rich  jewels  I  offered  her. 
She  had  her  name  engraved  upon  it,  and  when  she  had 
enclosed  a  piece  of  my  hair  in  it,  she  said  my  curl  out- 
shone the  gold  it  was  enclosed  in. 

That  was  a  compliment  worthy  of  my  Chevalier,  it 
was  so  like  the  sweet  things  he  says  to  me ;  but  what  he 
says  is  always  true  and  like  his  own  noble  self,  whilst  as 
to  Helene  —  ah  me !  I  wish  she  were  as  true  and  pure 
and  good  as  he  is.  But  that  unfortunate  lock  of  hair ! 
Oh,  how  I  wish  it  were  back  on  my  head  again  or  in  my 
Louis's  keeping !  What  would  he  say  if  he  knew  that 
lady  still  possessed  it,  besides  having  another  piece  in 
the  locket  I  gave  her?  But  then  again  she  may  have 
lost  all  interest  in  me,  and  forgot  that  she  has  such 
things  in  her  possession,  or,  having  them,  the  desire  to 
use  them  may, — nay,  must  have  passed  away.  I  am 
nothing  to  her  now,  only  a  memory;  perhaps  not  even 
that.  Poor  Helene!  she  had  no  female  friend  except 
me.  I  do  think  she  loved  me  once,  and  sometimes  I 
believe  she  must  miss  me.  Oh,  why  could  she  not  con- 
tinue to  love  me  even  though  she  did  love  Louis?  That 
is  nothing  strange, —  every  one  must  love  him;  and  as 
to  her,  she  was  so  fascinating  and  in  everything  so  far 
superior  to  me,  that  I  should  never  have  been  surprised 
if  he  had  preferred  her  to  me." 

w Feb.  12.  Alas,  alas!  I  know  too  well  now  that 
Helene  remembers  that  dreadful  lock  of  hair.  I  fear 
me,  too,  she  has  been  tempted  to  use  it  for  —  O  Heaven ! 


462  GHOST  LAND. 

how  I  shudder  when  I  think  of  it  —  last  night  I  was  gone, 
I  know  not  where.  I  am  confident  I  was  not  sleeping, 
for  I  distinctly  remember  seeing  the  palm-trees  waving 
in  the  breeze,  and  listening  to  the  midnight  songs  of  the 
boatmen  as  they  floated  down  the  river;  and  yet  I  was 
away  somewhere,  —  away  where  my  Louis  could  not 
reach  me,  away  in  some  terrible  imprisonment,  in '  some 
place  where  I  saw  the  form  of  Helene.  I  saw,  too,  that 
she  wore  a  beautiful  India  muslin  dress  embroidered 
with  gold,  and  that  she  stood  somewhere  near  me,  like  a 
priestess  of  Valhalla,  with  her  long,  waving  tresses  of 
raven  hair  falling  around  her,  crowned  with  a  wreath  of 
bay  leaves.  I  know  this  scene  was  not  a  mere  dream. 
I  think  it  took  place  in  some  old  temple  where  I  have 
never  been;  but  O  Heaven!  this  may  not  be  the  end  of 
it!  Would  I  had  told  Louis,  but  I  could  not,  I  could 
not!  Perhaps  I  shall  have  courage  to  do  so  to-morrow." 
"  Feb.  15.  Louis  has  gone  away  for  three  weeks. 
Louis  is  gone,  and  the  sunlight  has  all  gone  with  him. 
He  has  explained  to  me  the  urgency  of  the  affairs  that 
called  him  hence,  and  I  knew  he  ought  to  go,  so  I  never- 
opposed  him  or  tried  to  detain  him.  I  knew  I  ought  not 
to  do  so.  He  wished  me  to  go  and  stay  with  my  aunt, 
who  was  very  urgent  that  I  should  do  so ;  but  I  pleaded 
to  be  allowed  to  remain  here  in  my  happy,  happy  home, 
with  all  my  pets  round  me,  and  the  tracery  of  my  dearest 
love's  presence  on  every  side  of  me.  Oh,  I  could  not  go 
away !  I  could  not  leave  such  a  scene,  for  my  aunt's  gay 
home,  with  so  many  visitors  coming  and  going  all  day, 
and  nothing  there  of  Louis  except  that  splendid  portrait 
of  him  my  uncle  has  had  painted,  just  for  every  one  that 
comes  in  to  admire,  as  of  course  every  one  does.  I  know 
my  kind  Louis  feared  to  hurt  me  by  opposing  my  wishes, 
so  he  consented  to  let  me  stay,  but  I  heard  him  charging 


GHOST  LAND.  463 

my  aunt  so  earnestly  to  come  and  see  me  every  day,  and 
besides  that  he  has  filled  the  house  with  so  many  attend- 
ants, and  left  so  many  persons  in  charge  of  me,  that  I  am 
never  alone.  This  would  trouble  me  a  little  if  I  did  not 
perceive  in  it  fresh  evidences  of  his  tender  care.  I  dare 
not  trust  myself  to  write  anything  about  his  absence,  but 
it  is  a- wonderful  joy  to  me  to  know  that  he  will  be  home 
again  in  three  weeks.  Three  weeks!  Ah  me!  the  sun 
will  shine  upon  me  then,  though  all  is  so  dark  and  deso- 
late now." 

" Feb.  19.  Heaven  have  mercy  on  me!  The  worst 
has  come  at  last.  O  misery  unutterable !  Where  shall 
I  go,  what  shall  I  do  to  escape  this  awful  fate?  O 
Louis,  Louis!  where  are  you  and  why  can  you  not 
realize  the  shipwreck  and  woe  that  has  befallen  your 
unhappy  ?  fairy '? 

"Last  night  Helene  called  me  away,  dragged  my 
spirit  forth,  though  she  mercifully  left  my  helpless,  woe- 
ful body  sleeping  in  my  bed.  Alas,  alas!  what  an 
afflicted,  captive  soul  was  mine  as  I  stood  in  her  pres- 
ence, with  her  dark  and  dreadful  brother  by  her  side, 
and  all  around  them  a  crowd  of  awful  shapes,  demons, 
or  elementaries,  I  know  not  which  or  what!  O  cruel, 
remorseless  woman !  What  have  I  ever  done  to  deserve 
such  a  dreadful  doom?  She  mocked  and  taunted  me, 
told  me  she  could  control  me,  body  and  soul,  and  I  felt 
too  well  she  could. 

"I  saw  my  fatal  lock  of  hair,  half  consumed  and 
crisped  by  fire,  laying  on  an  altar  that  might  have  been 
dedicated  to  the  dark  god,  Juggernaut.  I  knew  when 
I  was  called ;  I  knew  that  I  must  go,  for  I  felt  the  sharp 
sting  of  the  burning  lock  upon  my  forehead,  and  ere  I 
had  time  to  pray,  or  call  upon  thee,  my  Louis,  lo !  I  was 
there.  O  Heaven,  pity  me !  Angels  of  mercy,  help  me ! 


464  QHOST  LAND. 

There  is  still  so  much  left  of  that  fatal  lock  of  hair  that 
I  know  not  how  many  more  times  she  may  summon  me, 
nor  when,  nor  how,  those  fiendish  rites  may  be  exer- 
cised again.  I  have  prayed  all  night  and  day  since 
then,  and  believe  I  am  at  last  a  little  stronger.  To-day 
a  fresh  calamity  has  befallen  me.  My  uncle,  who  has 
been  so  very  kind  to  me,  my  poor  uncle,  who  seems  to 
have  become  so  fond  of  me,  went  up  the  country  some 
forty  miles  on  official  business,  and  has  been  seized  with 
malarious  fever.  My  dear,  good  aunt  has  been  obliged 
to  join  him,  and  I  have  lent  her  my  best  ayah  to  help 
her  nurse  him.  I  fear  Louis  would  not  be  pleased  if  he 
knew  my  nurse  was  gone,  because  she  is  so  good,  so 
much  better  a  physician  than  poor,  stupid  Dr.  S—  — . 
Why  could  he  not  see  this  morning  how  worn  and  sad  I 
was?  Alas,  no  one  knows  me  but  Louis,  and  he  is  so 
far  away!  How  lonely  and  deserted  this  place  appears 
to  be,  and  oh,  the  dimness !  it  has  now  become  quite  a 
thick  cloud. 

WI  believe  I  could  summon  Louis  if  I  were  to  try, 
and  send  out  this  trembling  soul  of  mine  to  fetch  him 
home,  but  I  know  how  fearfully  sensitive  he  is,  and  what 
terrible  pangs  he  would  suffer  before  he  could  reach 
me.  No,  no !  I  cannot  brave  the  consequences. 

"He  has  been  gone  ten  days  now.  A  little  more  than 
another  week,  and  he  will  return.  I  will  tell  him  all 
then,  and  I  know  he  will  and  can  save  me,  at  least 
before  my  time  of  trial  comes." 

**Feb.  22.  Again,  again!  Another  fearful  ordeal! 
Last  night  they  called  me  again,  and  there  was  none  to 
save  me.  Surely,  surely,  God  has  forgotten  me,  and 
good  angels  have  deserted  me!" 

"Feb.  25.  Oh,  joy,  joy!  The  lock  of  hair  has 
been  restored  to  me,  and  now  it  is  burned,  consumed  in 


GHOST  LAND.  465 

the  fire  my  Louis  calls  so  sacred,  and  I  am  saved,  at 
least  till  Louis,  returns,  and  then  what  power  can  harm 
me?  Still,  he  shall  know  it  all,  and  I  will  write  it  down 
just  as  it  happened,  so  that  he  may  know  everything 
correctly.  Early  yesterday  morning  whilst  I  was 
absorbed  in  lamentation,  wringing  my  hands,  and  pray- 
ing that  Heaven  would  send  me  help,  who  should  I  see 
crossing  the  veranda  and  stopping  opposite  my  couch, 
with  low  obeisances,  but  that  dear,  good,  droll  little 
fakir,  ]STazir,  the  little  sprite  whom  my  Louis  likes  so 
well  and  who  made  such  pleasant  entertainment  for  us 
when  we  were  first  married. 

f  - 1  had  not  seen  him  for  a  long  time  because  he  has 
been  away  on  a  pilgrimage,  he  said;  but  he  had  now 
returned,  and  brought  with  him  a  pair  of  those  sweet 
birds  we  call  in  England  *  love  birds.'  He  brought 
them  as  a  present  to  me,  the  precious  little  ones !  He 
said  they  were  not  half  good  enough  for  me.  Poor  little 
Nazir !  but  I  answered  him  that  I  thought  it  was  just 
like  his  fatherly  care  to  bring  me  such  a  present.  Then 
the  good  little  fakir  asked  if  he  could  do  nothing  else 
for  me;  was  I  quite  sure?  no  commission  that  he  could 
execute,  —  nothing  that  madame  could  think  of  which 
Sahib  could  do  to  beguile  her  loneliness?  It  seemed 
strange  that  he  should  linger  so;  stranger  still  that 
just  then  I  could  think  of  nothing  for  him  to  do,  though 
I  knew  it  would  please  him  so  much  to  be  of  use  to 
me,  —  the  kind  heart ! 

"At  last  I  remembered  that  fatal  lock  of  hair.  The 
memory  of  it  came  upon  me  like  a  thunder-cloud  just 
as  I  was  making  friends  with  my  little  birds.  Then  as 
it  all  came  back  to  me,  I  told  Nazir  the  whole  story,  and 
asked  him  what  I  could  do  until  my  husband  returned 
to  help  me.  Good  Nazir!  he  is  a  man  after  all,  though 

30 


466  GHOST  LAND. 

he  is  a  fakir,  and  has  a  heart  though  he  has  studied  how 
to  encase  it  in  a  crust  of  seeming  apathy  t  He  frowned 
darkly  when  I  mentioned  Helene's  name,  but  when  I 
told  him  how  they  had  treated  me  I  thought  the  sparks 
of  fire  emitted  by  his  glittering  black  eyes  would  have 
consumed  Helene  had  she  beheld  their  lurid  glare. 

"When  all  was  told,  he  said,  literally  hissing  between 
his  clenched  teeth,  '  Madame  shall  have  her  golden  lock 
again;  the  sun  of  my  lord's  existence  shall  have  the 
shorn  beam  restored  to  her.' 

"  Oh,  how  glad  I  was  when  I  heard  these  words !  I 
knew  that  Nazir  had  done  more  wonderful  things  than 
spiriting  away  a  little  lock  of  hair.  At  one  of  my  hus- 
band's dinner  parties,  three  fakirs  caused  a  whole  set 
of  china  to  walk  across  the  floor,  and  wait  on  each 
member  of  the  company  separately;  they  brought 
jewels  through  the  air  from  my  aunt's  dressing-room, 
seven  miles  away,  and  caused  my  uncle's  cane  to  leave 
our  house,  fly  through  the  air,  I  suppose,  and  drop 
down  before  the  family,  as  they  sat  at  dinner  two  miles 
distant.  Oh,  I  felt  sure  ISTazir  could  restore  my  lock 
of  hair.  Why  did  I  not  think  of  that  before? 

"Just  one  hour  ago  I  went  into  my  dressing-room,  and 
there  I  saw  Granger,  my  English  maid,  standing  like  a 
statue  of  fright,  bending  over  something  that  lay  upon 
the  ground  just  inside  the  French  window.  'Look 
there,  my  lady,'  she  cried,  'what  can  that  be  on  the 
ground?' 

"I  looked  and  saw  what  it  was  in  a  moment,  and 
requested  her  quite  calmly  to  pick  it  up  and  hand  it  to 
me.  It  was  indeed  my  poor  lock  of  hair,  tumbled, 
soiled,  and  half-burned;  still  it  was  mine,  and  that  was 
all  I  cared  for;  but  that  was  not  the  only  thing  there; 
by  the  side  of  the  hair  lay  Helene's  locket!  O  Nazir! 


GHOST  LAND.  467 

that  was  quite  wrong,  and  far  exceeded  your  commis- 
sion. I  never  meant  that  he  should  have  taken  that 
locket  away.  Why,  that  is  stealing,  and  a  very  ugly 
way  of  stealing,  too !  I  must  have  the  hair  taken  out, 
and  Nazir  must  just  spirit  the  locket  back  again  in  the 
same  manner  that  he  abstracted  it.  I  shall  be  perfectly 
miserable  -until  it  is  returned.  What  an  error  to  com- 
mit! I  hope  he  will  come  to-morrow  and  enable  me  to 
return  it  before  shp  discovers  her  loss.  If  she  still  per- 
severes in  her  wicked  designs  against  me,  and  finds  the 
hair  gone,  as  hair  I  know  is  a  very  essential  part  of 
the  dreadful  invocation,  of  course  she  will  resort  to 
the  little  piece  in  the  locket,  and  if  that  is  missing  too, 
I  don't  know  what  she  may  think." 

w  Feb.  24.  The  whole  day  has  passed,  and  that  tire- 
some Nazir  has  not  made  his  appearance.  I  feel  so  safe 
and  composed  now  that  I  have  my  lock  of  hair  again,  that 
I  can  afford  to  be  a  little  troubled  about  the  locket.  Still 
I  wish  my  good,  kind  little  fakir  would  come.  I  cannot 
rest  till  that  fatal  jewel  is  out  of  my  possession.  It 
seems  to  cast  such  an  evil  spell  upon  me  that  I  cannot 
shake  off  its  effects.  !No !  not  though  I  am  holding  in 
my  hand  another  precious  letter  from  the  star  of  my  ex- 
istence. Sweet,  fragrant  leaves  are  between  the  pages, 
but  oh,  how  much*  more  fragrant  is  the  aroma  of  good- 
ness and  protective  care  and  kindest  sympathy  that 
breathes  through  these  precious  lines!  He  is  coming 
home  soon,  and  says,  home  is  where  I  am.  Oh,  thank 
Heaven  he  is  coming !  Would  he  were  here  now !  How 
coldly  the  stars  gleam  upon  me  to-night;  and  I  have  a 
strange  fancy,  as  I  look  at  them,  that  they  seem  to  be 
calling  me  away.  This  old  house  is  full  of  sounds,  but 
I  never  feared  them  till  to-night.  Hark !  there 's  another 
string  of  my  poor  harp  gone.  No,  surely  it  is  a  hand 


468  GHOST  LAND. 

wandering  amidst  the  strings!  Can  it  be  a  hand?  Per- 
haps it  is  only  the  night  breezes.  How  they  sigh  and 
moan  amongst  the  tall  palms !  *  They  sound  like  the 
rushing  winds  of  our  own  Scottish  moors  rather  than 
the  balmy  breathings  of  a  tropic  land.  If  there  are  spir- 
its of  the  air  abroad  this  night,  they  are  calling  me  hence, 
for  surely  I  hear  my  name  sounding  amongst  the  tree- 
tops.  There  it  is  again !  Blanche,  Blanche  !  come  home  ! 
Who  is  it  that  calls?  Home  is  where  my  Louis  is.  Oh, 
will  they  take  me  from  him?  .  .  .  Granger  has  just 
been  here  to  inquire  whose  voices  were  singing  in  my 
chamber.  Poor  girl !  how  terrified  she  was  when  I  could 
not  answer  her.  My  people  creep  about  the  house  and 
look  so  strangely  upon  me.  There  is  a  mortal  fear  upon 
them  all  to-night,  and  I  can  not  now  sustain  and  cheer 
them  as  I  used  to  do  when  I  was  a  gay  girl  at  home. 
How  calm  I  was  when  my  Louis  slept  so  long,  that  all 
around  thought  him  dead  but  me,  and  I  crept  to  his 
side  and  gazed  upon  him,  and  thought  how  beautiful  he 
looked.  I  wish  I  could  recall  the  courage  of  those  days 
now.  Hark!  some  one  is  pacing  my  chamber.  "Who 
can  it  be?  Now  the  footsteps  die  away,  and —  now  some 
hand  is  on  my  harp  again.  That  is  not  the  wind; 
those  chords  resound  beneath  a  master's  touch.  O 
Heaven !  what  a  sad  and  mournful  strain  that  was. 
Who  could  the  player  be?  O  spirits  of  the  solemn 
stars ;  bright  planetary  angels !  You  who  know  so  well, 
and  love  my  Louis,  —  oh,  protect  and  guard  him!  And 
if  it  is  thy  will,  Father  of  spirits,  return  him  to  this  sad 
and  lonely  heart  of  mine  ere  I  go  hence !  Louis,  my 
Louis,  star-beam  of  my  soul !  would  thou  wert  with  me 
now !  Good-night,  dear  love,  good-night." 


CHAPTEK  XXVI. 

HOW  I  KETUE^ED   TO   EUROPE. 

w  GOOD-NIGHT,  dear  love,  good-night!"  This  was 
the  last  entry  in  that  journal  wherein  a  pure  and  inno- 
cent heart  had  poured  out  in  every  line  the  treasures  of 
an  unrequited  love ;  in  which  such  mines  of  un wrought 
gold  were  opened  up  to  the  gaze  of  the  shipwrecked 
man,  who  only  realized  their  true  value  at  the  moment 
when  he  was  to  behold  them  all  sinking  in  the  ocean 
of  a  vanished  past. 

Her  diary  ends  with  those  words  of  tender  farewell, 
and  to  me  has  fallen  the  task  of  finishing  up  the  his- 
tory. I  have  set  myself  this  work  to  do  for  a  special 
purpose,  and  painful  as  it  is  I  must  fulfil  it. 

Since  the  night  when  I  determined  to  devote  myself 
to  the  care  and  protection  of  John  Dudley's  child,  I  had 
silently  but  resolutely  abandoned  my  pursuit  of  the 
occult,  my  association  with  the  various  societies  with 
which  I  had  been  connected,  and  all  that  formerly  fas- 
cinated me  and  filled  my  soul  with  spiritual  light  and 
knowledge.  I  felt  that  the  new  duties  I  had  voluntarily 
incurred,  must  not  be  divided  with  the  old  pursuits,  and 
whilst  I  could  not  overcome  the  bitter  disappointment  I 
felt  at  being  thus  shut  out  from  the  realms  of  the 
unseen,  in  communion  with  which  I  had  lived  from 
boyhood,  I  never  faltered  in  my  purpose.  I  knew  then 
and  still  believe,  that  the  devotion  so  absolutely  required 


470  GHOST  LAND. 

to  attain  to  the  highest  good  in  any  condition  of  life 
admits  of  no  compromise  or  divided  interests.  To 
stifle  my  heart's  yearnings  for  the  spiritual  in  which 
my  whole  being  had  been  bound  up,  I  plunged  into 
the  cares  of  public  life,  the  duties  of  home,  and  the 
entertainment  of  my  sweet  bride,  as  if  I  had  never 
known  any  other  aims  or  employments.  I  devoted 
myself,  moreover,  to  all  those  materialistic  occupations 
with  a  restless  and  untiring  energy  which  left  me  no 
time  to  think. 

I  accompanied  my  young  wife  and  her  friends  to  all 
the  various  scenes  which  I  thought  would  interest  them, 
and  although  I  permitted  my  fakirs  to  amuse  them  with 
feats  of  occult  art,  I  never  took  part  in  them,  or  suffered 
myself  for  one  moment  to  brood  over  my  altered  career. 
This  abandonment  of  my  past  life's  dearest  aspirations 
cost  me  many  a  pang,  but  I  never  thought  my  fairy 
understood  this  until  I  read  her  precious  confidences  to 
herself,  and  that  at  a  time  when  all  chance  of  changing 
the  tide  of  her  regrets  was  at  an  end. 

During  my  enforced  absence  from  her,  I  began  to 
realize  the  monitions  of  my  true  nature  crowding  in 
upon  me  again.  Visions  haunted  my  pillow,  voices 
sounded  in  my  ears,  and  the  fluttering  wings  of  other 
worlds  of  being  stirred  the  air  around  me.  I  steadily 
resisted  these  phenomena  up  to  one  dreadful  night,  when 
a  vision  of  such  intense  horror  flitted  before  me,  that  I 
was  compelled  to  spring  from  my  bed,  dress  hastily, 
and  spend  the  rest  of  the  night  pacing  the  streets  ere  I 
could  regain  peace  of  mind  and  composure.  The  next 
night  and  the  next,  witnessed  a  recurrence  of  the  same 
horrible  representations,  and  on  each  occasion  they 
forced  upon  my  mind  the  conviction  that  what  I  beheld 
was  the  reflex  of  an  actuality,  not  the  mere  distorted 


GHOST  -LAND.  471 

images  of  an  unquiet  vision.  I  saw,  or  seemed  to  see, 
my  fair  young  bride  dragged  before  an  altar,  where  a 
scene  of  "black  magic"  was  being  enacted,  and  the 
forms  of  Helene  Laval  and  her  infamous  brother  were 
the  presiding  demons  of  the  foul  rites.  I  could  almost 
hear  the  voices  of  these  remorseless  fiends  mocking, 
insulting,  and  taunting  my  gentle  wife,  whilst  I,  a  bound 
and  helpless  captive,  stood  looking  on  in  vacant  imbe- 
cility. 

At  first  I  regarded  these  representations  as  the  result 
of  an  overstrained  condition  of  mind,  but  at  length 
their  resistless  force  made  their  recurrence  unendur- 
able, and  I  was  compelled  to  accept  their  spectral 
imagery  as  visions  of  prophetic  if  not  of  present 
reality.  Spirit  voices,  too,  —  the  spirits  of  those  I  had 
known  and  loved,  but  whom  I  had  abandoned,  whilst  I 
sullenly  complained  that  in  thickening  the  mists  of  my 
destiny  upon  me  they  had  abandoned  me  —  now  sounded 
in  my  ears,  and  in  tones  like  muttering  thunder,  tones 
that  could  not  be  mistaken,  insisted  on  being  heard. 
They  assured  me  of  their  constant  love  and  untiring 
affection;  pointed  out  to  me  the  impossibility  of  their 
interference  to  alter  my  fate  or  change  the  purposes  of 
the  Infinite;  they  reminded  me  that  whilst  they  could 
neither  make  nor  mar  the  scheme  in  which  the  Creator 
had  spun  the  woof  of  every  living  creature's  destiny  on 
an  immutable  plan,  they  were  still  commissioned  to  dis- 
pense in  angelic  ministry  the  strength  which  would 
enable  me  to  bear  the  shafts  of  affliction  and  the  wis- 
dom which  must  overrule  all  things  for  good.  They 
would  be  heard;  they  would  enclose  me  in  their  arms 
of  love;  and  in  the  names  of  those  I  had  known  and 
trusted  on  earth  I  was  bidden  to  arise  from  my  attitude 
of  rebellion-  against  the  power  of  the  spirits,  and  when  I 


472  GHOST  LAND. 

bent  my  stubborn  soul  and  once  more  leaned  in  sub- 
mission upon  them,  I  was  warned  to  depart  for  my 
home,  to  ride  for  life  and  death,  by  day  and  night,  not 
to  pause  or  linger,  but  hasten  to  her  to  whom  I  had 
been  given  as  her  earthly  protector;  to  her  whom  I 
could  not  save  from  an  inevitable  fate,  though  I  might 
share  it  with  her  and  help  her  to  endure  it. 

The  constant  echo  of  my  present  life,  is  a  hymn  of 
thankfulness  that  I  did  at  last  listen  to  these  spirit 
voices  and  obey  them. 

Summoning  my  servants  around  me  I  distributed  to 
each  his  task.  Like  the  pilgrims  of  the  ancient  pass- 
over,  we  each  fulfilled  the  duties  I  marked  out  with  a 
speed  which  admitted  of  no  let  or  hinderance.  "VYhen 
all  my  arrangements  were  completed,  I  set  out  on  my 
journey  alone,  and  partly  by  train,  partly  on  horseback, 
travelled  two  hundred  miles  to  Calcutta,  with  an  urgent 
haste  that  increased  every  instant  as  I  neared  the  city. 
The  last  twenty  miles  I  rode,  in  the  heat  of  a  scorching 
day,  on  horseback.  The  train  which  I  might  have 
taken,  had  I  waited,  would  not  leave  till  night,  but  the 
impetuous  eagerness  to  which  I  had  worked  myself  up, 
would  have  urged  me  to  go  on  foot,  had  I  been  unable 
to  hire  horses  to  carry  me.  As  it  was,  I  had  to  change 
them  every  hour,  for  I  loved  and  pitied  the  noble  animals 
and  would  not  for  worlds  have  subjected  them  to  the 
heat  and  toil  of  a  journey,  the  hardships  of  which 
seemed  to  have  lost  all  effect  upon  me.  As  I  rode  on, 
the  voices  deepened  to  the  roar  of  a  torrent  in  my  ears, 
and  the  shadows  of  impending  fate  closed  down  so 
thickly  upon  me  that  I  could  see  nothing  but  my  little 
girl,  forlorn,  wayworn,  and  broken-hearted,  just  as  I 
had  beheld  her  on  the  dreadful  night  when  the  spell  of 
the  foul  enchantress  lured  her  to  my  home.  * 


GHOST  LAND.  473 

Five  miles  from  the  city,  a  little,  dusty,  wayworn 
figure  threw  itself  before  my  horse  and  with  much  diffi- 
culty succeeded  in  stopping  my  headlong  career.  It 
was  the  fakir  Nazir;  he  would  speak,  he  must.,  he  said, 
speak  with  me,  and  as  he  leaned  breathless  against  my 
panting  horse,  he  poured  out  a  horrible,  an  almost 
incredible  story.  My  wife,  my  fair  and  gentle  wife,  that 
delicately  nurtured  lady  who  had  never  known  any 
ruder  shelter  than  the  luxurious  homes  of  her  father  and 
husband,  was  in  a  common  prison,  thrown  there  under 
charge  of  stealing  a  gold  locket  from  Madame  Helene 
Laval.  The  shocking  tale,  poured  out  amidst  tears — 
ay!  actually  tears  from  those  unused  eyes  that  had 
never  wept  before  —  was  this.  He  told  me  how  at  the 
lady's  supplication  he  had  spirited  away  her  fatal  lock  of 
hair,  but  finding  that  another  portion  of  this  precious 
talismanic  curl  was  enclosed  in  a  gold  locket,  and  fear- 
ing that  if  this  remained,  the  base  enchantress  would 
still  torment  her  victim,  he  had  rashly  added  that  pal- 
try jewel  to  the  abstracted  lock. 

It  would  seem  that  the  loss  of  these  means  to  work 
injury,  was  realized  almost  immediately.  Madame 
Laval,  who  no  doubt  suspected  the  nature  of  the  arts 
as  well  as  the  source  by  which  she  was  thus  baffled, 
sent  for  a  Clmlali,  and  by  means  of  one  of  these 
singular  and  expert  conjurers,  a  "magic  ball"  was  set 
in  motion,  which  she  was  assured  would  travel  on,  and, 
followed  by  the  conjurer,  never  stop  until  it  reached 
the  place  where  the  lost  jewel  was  to  be  found.  Nazir 
rightly  conjectured  this  explanation  of  the  mode  in  which 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  lost  locket  was  in  my  house. 
He  had  met  the  operator,  he  said,  who  confessed  to  him 
there  was  some  power  which  prevented  his  crossing  my 
threshold,  at  which  point  the  magic  ball  became  sud- 


474  GHOST  LAND. 

denly  arrested.  The  fact  that  it  was  traced  thus  far, 
however,  must  have  been  sufficient  for  the  plotters, 
who  availed  themselves  of  this  clew  to  follow  out  the 
rest  of  their  hellish  plan. 

What  I  afterwards  learned  let  me  here  state  in  brief. 
The  vile  brother  and  sister  knew  I  was  far  away  from 
my  hapless  wife.  They  doubtless  suspected  the  power 
by  which  the  unfortunate  lady  had  obtained  possession 
of  the  missing  locket,  and  convinced  by  their  magi- 
cian's art  that  it  was  still  in  my  house,  they  secretly  and 
swiftly  executed  their  direful  plan  of  vengeance. 

By  aid  of  an  immense  bribe  and  the  civic  influence 
possessed  by  Perrault,  the  remorseless  wretches  first 
obtained  a  warrant  to  search  my  house,  where  the  miss- 
ing locket  was  immediately  discovered;  they  then  pro- 
ceeded to  arrest  my  hapless  girl,  my  little  sinless  fairy, 
the  high-born  Lady  Blanche,  and  actually  removed  her 
to  a  common  felon's  prison,  before,  as  I  have  since  had 
reason  to  believe,  the  city  magistrates  or  any  officials, 
save  a  set  of  hired,  bribed,  and  remorseless  myrmidons, 
knew  aught  of  the  shameful  transaction. 

It  was  not  until  night  of  that  same  fatal  day,  the 
fakir  added,  that  he,  who  had  been  out  of  the  city,  re- 
turned to  find  the  woe  and  wreck  his  indiscretion  had 
occasioned.  Graham,  the  viscount,  all  my  friends  were 
absent  or  not  to  be  found  till  night.  My  servants  scat- 
tered themselves  in  every  direction  to  seek  for  help,  but 
none  of  them  really  understood  the  facts  of  what  had 
happened  until  ]STazir  returned  and  in  frantic  self-accu- 
sation ran  from  place  to  place,  rousing  my  friends  and 
telling  his  shocking  story.  Still  the  night  had  to  elapse 
before  aid  and  rescue  could  be  procured,  and  then  —  it 
came  too  late,  too  late ! 

What  the  miserable  and  insane  persecutors  expected 


GHOST  LAND.  475 

to  effect  by  their  daring  act,  none  can  say.  They  must 
have  known  that  the  entire  community  would  rise 
against  them,  and  their  horrible  act  of  vengeance  recoil 
on  themselves  with  crushing  force.  As  it  was,  they 
were  so  swift  in  their  work,  and  kept  it  so  silent  and 
secret  for  many  hours,  that  it  was  not  until  the  fakir's 
return,  that  the  tidings  became  noised  abroad,  and  rescue 
could  be  obtained.  The  viscount  and  his  lady  were  at 
length  reached,  the  magistrates  apprised  of  the  horrible 
plot,  and  my  entire  circle  of  friends  aroused  by  the 
indomitable  energy  and  remorse  of  the  unhappy  Nazir. 
Friends  and  officials  alike  had  hastened  to  the  prison 
to  release  the  unfortunate  girl.  "Why  she  was  still 
there  and  could  not  be  removed,  alas,  alas !  I  too  well 
knew.  I  could  hear  no  more;  indeed,  I  knew  nothing 
more  until  I  reached  the  city,  and  my  servants  crowded 
round  me  with  assistance,  for  the  horse  I  rode,  fell  at 
the  gate  of  my  own  house,  —  my  house  all  void  and 
empty  now!  How  I  reached  the  prison  I  know  not, 
or  how,  or  whether,  the  darkness  that  fell  around  my 
way  was  in  the  air  or  in  my  own  dim  eyes. 

Every  gate  was  opened,  and  many  hands  were  out- 
stretched to  me  as  I  made  my  way  from  point  to  point 
and  passed  gloomy  cells  and  through  damp,  dark  pas- 
sages. Fit  resting-place  for  my  fairy  bride!  Meet 
shelter  for  a  crushed  and  broken  flower  like  her! 

Presently  the  Viscount  K ,  very  pale  and  very 

kind,  and  several  of  my  brother  officers  encountered  me. 
I  never  paused  to  greet  them,  though  they  surrounded 
me  and  would  have  kept  me  back.  I  heard  many  voices 
speaking  in  tones  of  deep  sympathy,  indignation,  and 
regret. 

I  never  answered  them.  I  did  not  speak,  I  had  no 
thought  but  of  her,  —  knew  nothing  but  her. 


476  GHOST  LAND. 

As  I  passed  on  I  was  met  at  the  threshold  of  *an 
open  door  by  the  viscountess  and  a  group  of  women, 
one  of  whom,  my  wife's  favorite  ayah,  held  a  small 
bundle  in  her  arms.  As  I  advanced  she  removed  the 
folds  of  a  dainty  shawl  and  showed  me  the  face  of  a 
dead  child.  I  stopped  and  kissed  it  and  then  passed 
on,  —  on  till  I  reached  a  wretched  pallet  gorgeously 
covered  with  splendid  shawls  and  strewed  with  fragrant 
flowers.  I  heard  a  wild  cry,  —  my  name  pronounced 
in  those  soft,  tender  accents  so  like  the  tones  of  her 
own  broken  harp,  —  white  arms  wound  round  me,  soft 
hands  clasping  my  neck,  a  fair  golden  head  nestling  in 
my  bosom,  and  —  so  she  died. 

Back  in  the  old  ruinous  house,  ruins  covered  up  with 
gorgeous  art  until  it  had  once  shone  like  a  fairy  palace; 
back  in  the  house  she  had  so  loved  and  where  her  pres- 
ence had  made  the  place  a  paradise,  amidst  the  flowers 
and  bloom,  the  pale  statues,  and  deep,  unbroken  silence ; 
back  with  my  fairy  bride  and  my  dead  child,  —  alone 
and  still  and  quiet,  I  spent  that  long,  long  night,  whilst 
the  storm  of  fierce  passion,  prompting  men  to  riot  and 
ruin,  filled  the  streets  without.  The  real  truths  that 
surround  great  tragedies  are  never  known  to  the  world, 
but  there  is  an  element  of  generosity  in  public  sentiment, 
a  depth  of  honest  manliness  in  the  human  heart  which, 
however  crowded  down  by  the  artifices  and  sordid  cares 
of  civilization,  can  always  be  aroused  to  indignant  pro- 
test by  the  action  of  injustice  or  wanton  cruelty.  Such 
a  sentiment  seemed  to  have  been  awakened  by  the 
impassioned  utterances  of  my  poor  little  fakir,  who,  in 
his  frantic  anxiety  to  right  the  great  wrong  done  to  his 
hapless  lady  had  again  exceeded  the  bounds  of  prudence 
in  declaiming  against  the  authors  of  the  cruel  deed. 

The  viscount  had  made  strenuous  efforts  to  keep  the 


GHOST  LAND.  477 

matter  secret,  fearing  lest  its  publication  in  some  gar- 
bled form  should  attach  disgrace  to  his  noble  family; 
in  fact  he  had  caused  the  report  to  be  industriously 
circulated,  that  the  lady  so  shamefully  wronged  was 
a  domestic  attached  to  his  wife's  household,  not  one 
of  his  own  immediate  connections,  —  an  interpretation 
of  the  tale  which  I  believe  prevails  to  this  day  in  the 
city  where  this  great  tragedy  of  my  life  really  occurred. 

A  portion  of  the  populace,  who  had  learned  something 
of  the  fakir's  story,  and  with  it  understood  that  the 
lady's  imprisonment  and  death  were  connected  with  the 
enchantments  practised  by  the  well-known  adventuress, 
Madame  Laval,  had  surrounded  her  house,  and  with- 
out further  inquiry  into  the  right  or  wrong  of  what 
they  did,  had  burned  it  to  the  ground.  All  this  caused 
a  restless  wave  of  riot  and  destruction  to  surge  through 
the  streets  that  night  which  might  have  disturbed  any 
sleep  but  hers,  or  aroused  any  mourning  but  such  as 
mine ;  but  the  storm  raged  on,  —  we  were  all  still  and 
quiet  within. 

It  was  about  nine  o'clock  the  next  night  that  I  left 
my  house,  —  a  home  no  longer,  —  accompanied  by  Capt. 

Graham  and  Col.  M ,  a  noble-hearted  gentleman, 

between  whom  and  myself  a  warm  friendship  subsisted. 

We  threaded  ,our  way  through  the  lowest  and  most 
obscure  part  of  the  city,  until  we  gained  the  miserable 
hut  which  Graham  and  I  had  before  visited,  the  dwell- 
ing of  Anine,  fehe  sister  of  ISTazir.  The  door  was  barred 
and  bolted  within,  but  at  my  signal  Nazir  himself 
opened  it,  and  after  carefully  fastening  it  again,  led  me 
on  from  the  dwelling  through  several  courts  and  ruinous 
buildings,  when  we  gained  the  door  which  I  knew  led 
into  the  halls  where  we  had  witnessed  the  scenes  of 
"black  magic"  described  in  a  previous  chapter.  We 


478  GHOST  LAND. 

crossed  the  outer  hall,  and  paused  before  the  entrance 
which  led  to  the  interior  chamber.  Here  I  stopped  to 
gain  breath  and  strength  enough  to  proceed,  but  whilst 
I  leaned  against  the  door,  I  heard  the  voices  of  those  I 
came  to  seek,  the  accursed  brother  and  sister  who  had 
wrought  my  great  ruin,  in  angry  altercation  within. 
The  sound  of  those  hateful  tones  supplied  the  stimulus 
I  needed  and  impelled  me  at  once  to  push  open  the  door 
and  enter.  Crouching  on  the  threshold  inside  was  Anine, 
awaiting  our  coming,  according  to  Nazir's  directions. 

Perrault  and  his  sister  had,  it  seemed,  sought  tempo- 
rary shelter  there,  fearing  to  trust  themselves  to  the 
rage  of  an  excited  populace  in  the  streets.  They  were 
both  seated  at  a  table  on  which  refreshments  were 
spread,  but  the  altar,  braziers,  and  all  the  abominable 
paraphernalia  of  fetish  rites,  were  strewed  around  in 
disorder  and  neglect.  The  guilty  pair  started  to  their 
feet  as  we  entered,  and  the  woman  uttered  a  faint  cry 
of  alarm.  Our  plans  were  already  laid,  however,  and 
no  time  was  lost  in  idle  parley.  Graham  and  the  fakir 

seized  Perrault,  and  Col.  M ,  laying  his  hand  firmly 

on  Madame  Laval's  arm,  told  her  sternly  that  the  least 
cry  or  attempt  at  resistance  would  cost  them  both  their 
lives.  I  then  proceeded  to  cut  to  pieces  the  fatal  pic- 
tures of  myself  and  their  victim, — which  last  they  had 
recently  hung  up  beside  my  own,  —  throw  down  and 
stamp  upon  the  waxen  images,  and  break  up  or  rend 
apart  all  the  instruments  and  machinery  of  their  vile  art. 

Anine,  under  my  directions,  then  gathered  up  the 
fragments  in  a  heap,  cast  them  into  a  large,  dry,  stone 
tank,  and  set  fire  to  them.  All  this  I  did  without  haste, 
rage,  or  passion.  I  was  very  calm,  and  conducted  my 
work  with  the  utmost  deliberation.  When  this  was 
accomplished,  I  directed  Anine  and  the  fakir  to  take 


GHOST  LAND. 

charge  of  Madame  Laval,  towards  whom  I  never  once 
trusted  myself  to  look,  nor  did  I  speak  to  or  notice 
her,  although  she  often  addressed  me  in  terms  of  sup- 
plication. I  then  motioned  my  friends  to  retire  to  one 
of  the  large,  desolate  courts  which  we  had  before  crossed, 
leading  the  brother  and  sister  prisoners  with  us. 

Arrived  at  our  destination,  Col.  M addressed 

Perrault,  and  without  enlarging  upon  the  misery  he 
and  his  accomplices  had  wrought,  he  simply  told  him 
the  hour  of  reckoning  so  long  ago  promised  had  arrived. 
He  reminded  them  both  that  they  were  utterly  at  our 
mercy;  that  a  dreadful  fate  awaited  them  should  we,  as 
we  might,  give  them  up  to  justice,  but  instead,  I  had 
resolved,  little  as  he  deserved  such  grace,  to  deal  with 
him  as  if  he  were  a  gentleman,  rather  than  what  he 
was ;  in  short,  that  I  was  now  prepared  to  give  him  the 
only  chance  for  his  life  which  mortal  combat  afforded. 

Without  suffering  him  to  answer,  the  colonel  directed 
him  to  assume  a  position  opposite  me,  and  briefly,  yet 
still  with  the  military  courtesy  which  never  for  one 
moment  forsook  him,  introduced  him  to  Graham,  who 
had,  with  the  utmost  reluctance  and  disgust,  consented 
for  my  sake  to  act  as  Perrault's  second. 

Baffled  and  hopeless,  the  trembling  coward  took  the 
place  assigned  him,  exchanged  a  few  words  of  formal- 
ity with  Graham,  received  from  him  one  of  my  pistols, 
and  instantly,  without  waiting  for  the  dropping  of 
the  handkerchief,  which  was  the  signal  agreed  upon 
for  firing,  discharged  the  weapon  at  me.  Whether 
the  treacherous  villain's  hand  shook  or  he  was  but  an 
indifferent  marksman  I  know  not,  but  the  shot  was  ill 
sped  and  only  took  effect  upon  my  left  arm. 

Furious  at  this  murderous  act,  my  gallant  friends 
seized  him  on  either  side,  and  shouting  to  me  to  kill  him, 


480  GHOST  LAND. 

bravely  held  him  between  them,  awaiting  the  result  of 
my  fire.  My  aim  was  deliberate  and  my  purpose  fixed.  I 
determined  not  to  charge  my  soul  with  an  act  of  murder 
for  so  worthless  a  being,  I  would  only  maim  him  for  life. 
I  said  as  much  before  I  drew  the  trigger,  and  then 
fired,  and  Ilcnow  succeeded  in  my  design.  He  fell,  but 
not  to  die.  Better  for  him  if  he  had.  After  this  deed 
of  retribution,  my  friends  and  myself  quitted  the 
accursed  spot  forever. 

It  had  been  my  intention  to  proceed  to  England 
immediately,  taking  with  me  all  that  I  now  had  to  return 
to  the  bereaved  father  of  his  precious  child,  contained 
in  a  splendid  sarcophagus ;  but  I  had  drawn  too  largely 
on  the  forces  of  Nature  and  she  demanded  immunity  for 
the  heavy  draught.  For  many  weeks  I  hovered  between 
life  and  death,  consumed  by  a  raging  fever. 

The  viscount  and  his  kind  wife,  to  both  of  whom  I  had 
become  very  dear,  desired  to  have  me  removed  to  their" 
own  country  seat,  but  though  by  their  provident  care 
my  once  bright  home  had  been  despoiled,  shut  up, 
and  all  my  household  dispersed,  it  was  not  to  their 
house  that  I  was  carried.  My  kind  and  loving  friend, 
ISTanak  Rai,  claimed  the  charge  of  me,  and  attended  only 
by  my  well-tried  and  faithful  Arab  servant  Ali,  I  was 
conveyed  to  his  residence,  where  he  watched  and  min- 
istered to  me  with  the  skill  of  a  physician  and  the  care 
of  a  tender  father. 

For  many  a  long  day  and  succeeding  week,  this 
excellent  friend's  untiring  efforts  were  exerted  to 
snatch  me  from  the  confines  of  the  grave.  With  his 
remarkable  skill,  and  under  his  benign  and  holy  influ- 
ence, I  became  at  length  restored  to  health  alike  of 
body  and  mind. 

In  the  peaceful  retirement  of  his  home,  I  became  also 


GHOST  LAND.  481 

reconciled  to  myself,  my  fate,  and  the  ministry  of  the 
angels  whom  I  had  once  so  sullenly  rejected.  All  my 
spiritual  powers  and  aspirations  returned  to  me,  but 
returned  with  a  nearer  and  dearer  sense  of  the  sweet 
companionship  which  the  spirits  of  beloved  earthly 
friends  alone  can  bring.  How  many  times  during  my 
long  nights  of  weariness  and  pain,  have  I  heard  the 
light  step  of  my  fairy,  running  through  the  hall,  and 
stopping  just  as  she  used  to  do  when  she  meant  to 
surprise  me,  and  then  stealing  close,  very  close  to  me ! 
Her  ringing  laugh  sounded  softly,  though  still  very  sub- 
dued in  my  ears,  her  golden  tresses  swept  over  my 
burning  face,  and  her  tender  tones  once  more  whis- 
pered words  of  love  and  consolation,  ever  ending  by  a 
promise  of  "  the  rest  in  heaven,"  to  which  she  had  her- 
self attained. 

Good  and  gracious  Father  of  spirits,  with  what  deep 
ingratitude  and  pitiful  self-denial  do  poor  mortals  reject 
thy  best  blessing,  when  they  refuse  to  accept  or  scoff  at, 
the  precious  truths  of  spiritual  communion! 

The  thirty  years  of  life  experience,  the  summary  of 
which  I  have  sketched  out  in  these  pages,  have  pointed 
candidly  and  dispassionately  to  the  abuse  as  well  as 
the  use  of  the  vast  and  wondrous  powers  that  lay 
occultly  hidden  away  in  man,  and  the  unseen  universe 
by~whicn  he  is  surrounded.  But  whatever  may  be  the 
dangers,  terrors,  and  mysteries  of  occultism,  let  suffer- 
ing humanity  assure  itself  there  is  ever  an  angel  side 
to  this  realm  of  being,  one  on  which  the  soul  may  lean 
as  the  anchor  let  down  for  its  support  from  the  hand  of 
the  Creator. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  power  which  bridged  over  the 
Lethean  river  that  separated  me  from  all  that  I  had 
loved  on  earth,  health  might  have  resumed  her  sway, 

31 


482  GHOST  LAND. 

but  reason  would  have  fled  from  its  shattered  throne 
within  my  mind  forever.  One  by  one  I  had  seen  the 
fondest,  the  truest,  the  best,  all  upon  whom  I  had 
anchored  my  warmest  affections,  fall  by  my  side,  vanish 
from  my  sight,  and  leave  me  alone.  With  a  heart  full 
of  passionate  impulses  veiled  by  the  cold  exterior  of 
disciplined  asceticism,  I  had  been  compelled  to  see 
every  tie  of  affection  snapped,  every  earthly  hope 
shipwrecked. 

I  had  borne  so  much  and  strained  at  the  cords  of 
mental  effort  with  such  fearful  energy,  that  I  know  I 
must  have  become  a  raving  lunatic  if  I  had  turned 
despairing  glances  to  the  land  of  the  hereafter,  and 
sought  in  vain  there  for  my  vanished  loves  and  my  own 
goal  of  rest. 

Looking  through  the  eyes  of  my  beloved  ones,  as  they 
all  returned  to  me,  one  by  one,  each  assuming  his  or  her 
place  in  the  bright  procession,  with  all  the  well-remem- 
bered tokens  that  could  bring  me  the  assurance  there 
was  no  death,  only  change,  I  could  see  bright  angels, 
higher  still  than  the  spirits  of  earth,  and  a  Deity  over  all, 
upon  whom  I  could  lean  my  trembling  soul  and  be  at 
rest.  Once  more  the  tides  of  spiritual  life  and  force 
rolled  in  upon  the  storm-beaten  shores  of  my  destiny; 
once  more  the  grand  scheme  of  the  universe  and  the 
philosophy  of  existence  was  unrolled  before  me.  I 
began  again  to  recognize  myself  as  the  link  between 
the  lower  and  higher  worlds,  at  the  same  time  that  I 
learned  the  necessity  of  hedging  in  the  aspiring  intellect 
by  the  safe  boundary  lines  of  matter  and  mystery,  lest 
the  soul,  penetrating  too  far  into  the  arcanum  of  the 
illimitable  beyond,  should  become  lost,  wrecked,  over- 
whelmed in  immensities  of  being,  too  vast  for  finite 
humanity  to  comprehend. 


GHOST  LAND.  483 

I  know  I  have  not  always  remembered  or  applied  these 
salutary  lessons.  Removed  from  the  wise  and  philosophic 
teachings  of  my  excellent  Brahminical  friend,  restored  to 
health  and  reconciled  to  myself,  my  angels,  and  my  des- 
tiny, the  spring  of  my  wild  aspirations  has  impelled  me 
into  the  profonndest  realms  of  occultism,  into  the  depths 
yawning  beneath  my  feet,  and  the  heights  stretching 
away  above  my  head;  piercing  the  path  of  the  stars  and 
plunging  into  regions  of  mystery  beyond  the  safe  lim- 
itations of  human  spiritual  guidance. 

In  scaling  these  tremendous  ladders  of  knowledge,  I 
have  experienced  many  a  fearful  fall,  paid  many  a  heavy 
penalty.  Again  and  again  I  have  returned  from  these 
awful  pilgrimages  with  a  wounded,  bruised,  and  way- 
worn spirit;  but  ever,  as  I  came,  I  have  found  rest,  peace, 
and  consolation  in  the  loving  ministration  of  earth's 
enfranchised  spirit  friends.  I  have  learned  to  believe 
that  communion  between  the  denizens  of  this  planet  and 
her  spirit  spheres,  should  constitute  the  highest,  purest, 
most  normal  and  healthful  exercise  of  our  soul's  reli- 
gious faculties.  Mortals  have  but  an  imperfect  realiza- 
tion of  this  sublime  truth,  amidst  the  folly,  fanaticism, 
wrong,  and  imposture  that  have  disgraced  the  movement 
miscalled  Spiritualism,  —  a  movement  which  has  served 
to  externalize  much  of  the  darkest  features  of  human 
nature,  but  as  yet  has  been  permitted  to  do  little  more 
than  point  to  the  mines  of  unwrought  treasure  that  lay 
hidden  beneath  the  possibilities  of  that  communion.  As 
yet  it  is  all  too  human  and  too  redolent  of  human 
short-comings. 

I  dare  not  pause  now  even  to  hint  at  what  we  may 
hope  for  in  the  better  day  of  spiritual  communion,  when 
its  modus  operandi  shall  be  understood  by  science,  and 
its  sublime  revelations  be  received  in  the  spirit  of 


4:81  GHOST  LAND. 

religious  reverence.  Time  and  space,  however,  I  now 
find  have  become  limited  in  this  volume  to  a  closing 
sentence. 

When  strength  of  mind  and  body  returned  to  me,  I 
left  my  noble  friend's  peaceful  dwelling  with  the  beni- 
son  of  a  thankful  heart  upon  its  hospitable  roof-tree. 
Then  I  stood  once  more  on  shipboard,  waving  farewell 
to  groups  of  the  dear  and  warm-hearted  friends  who  had 
trod  with  me  life's  rough  and  rugged  paths  in  India; 
and  with  many  a  "God-speed"  sounding  in  my  ears, 
and  many  a  moistened  eye  following  the  track  of  the 
ship  out  into  the  pathless  wastes  of  ocean,  sailed 
away  to  commence  a  new  career  of  research  into  the 
realms  of  spiritual  existence. 


EDITOR'S  NOTE  IN  CONCLUSION. 


THE  reader  will  observe  that  the  foregoing  sketches  only  Account  for 
ten  years  of  the  author's  career  after  his  departure  from  England,  and 
constitute  simply  one  portion  of  the  u  Ghost  Land"  papers,  the 
remainder  of  which  include  an  equally  interesting  and  thrilling  record 
extending  over  nearly  twenty  years  more  of  the  author's  eventful  and 
varied  experiences  in  occult  spiritism,  many  of  which  I  have  shared 
with  him.  As  the  ample  dimensions  of  this  volume  forbid  further 
additions,  I  take  advantage  of  the  epoch  recorded  in  the  last  chapter  to 
close  these  sketches,  at  least  for  the  present. 

By  the  favor  of  the  author,  I  am  in  possession  of  another  series  of 
papers  from  his  pen,  of  even  more  importance  to  the  thinking  part  of  the 
community  than  either  of  his  previous  works.  This  valuable  MSS.  I 
hope  to  present  to  the  world  on  some  future  occasion. 

Time  and  experience  invariably  regulate  the  demands  of  public  opinion 
for  the  quality  of  the  literature  it  can  assimilate.  Guided  by  that  stan- 
dard, no  less  than  the  means  open  to  me,  I  shall  determine  how  far  I 
may  be  enabled  to  publish  the  rest  of  the  fascinating  sketches  com- 
menced in  this  volume,  as  well  as  the  MSS.  above  referred  to,  the 
merits  of  which  will  be  sufficiently  well  understood  by  the  readers  of 
"  Art  Magic,"  when  I  add  that  it  treats  of  and  enlarges  upon  the  same 
subjects  as  those  contained  in  that  extraordinary  work. 

Life  is  short,  but  its  responsibilities  are  to  my  mind  continued  through- 
out eternity;  were  it  not  so,  the  harassing  cares,  duties,  and  burdens  which 
belong  to  the  editorship  of  works  so  startling  and  revolutionary  as  those 

put  forth  by  the  Chevalier  de  B would  never  be  assumed  or  endured 

by  his  friend  and  the  world's  faithful  worker, 

EMMA  HARDINGE  BRITTEN, 

Ed.  Ghost  Land. 


ANOTHER    WORK    ON     OCCULT    SPIRITISM, 

BY   THE   AUTHOR   OP 

"ART  MAGIC." 


GHOST  LAND; 

OR, 

RESEARCHES  INTO  THE  MYSTERIES  OF  OCCULT  SPIRITISM, 


Being  a  series  of  autobiographical  papers,  with  extracts 
from  the  records  of 


,     Eltc.     lETto. 
Translated  and  edited  by  EMMA  HARDINGE  BRITTEN. 


This  magnificent  and  thrilling  record  of  spiritual  experiences  was 
prepared  for  and  commenced  in  the  "  WESTERN  STAR  "  some  four 
years  ago.  Since  the  suspension  of  that  periodical  —  necessitated 
by  the  Boston  fires  —  Mrs.  Hardinge  Britten  has  been  repeatedly 
solicited  to  publish  the  admired  and  fascinating  "  GHOST  LAND  "  papers 
in  a  connected  series.  The  great  demand  for  another  book  from  the 
author  of  **  ART  MAGIC,"  the  earnest  desire  of  the  subscribers  to  that 
CELEBRATED  WORK  to  know  more  about  its  author,  and  the  interest 
which  exists  at  the  present  hour  in  philosophical  and  progressive 
views  of  Spiritualism,  combine  to  induce  the  editor  to  put  forth  the 
present  highly  instructive  and  wonderful  volume,  with  the  special 
view  of  meeting  the  above  requirements. 

Orders  addressed  to  Mrs.  Emma  Hardinge  Britten  at  her  residence, 
118  West  Chester  Park,  Boston,  Mass.,  will  be  promptly  filled. 

Price,  $3.00.  Postage,  33  cents.  Express  charges  at  the  pur- 
chaser's cost.  Remittances  to  be  made  by  P.  O.  Order  or  Registered 
Letter. 


\ 

ART  MAGIC: 


MUNDANE,  SUB  -  MUNDANE,  AND  SUPER  -  MUNDANE 


SPIRITISM. 


A  TREATISE   IN  THREE   PARTS 


ON 


Art  magic,  natural  magic,  modern  spiritualism,  the  different  orders 
of  spirits  in  the  universe  known  to  be  related  to  or  in  com- 
munication   with    man,   together    with    directions   for 
invoking,  controlling,  and  discharging  spirits,  and 
the  uses   and   abuses,   dangers   and 
possibilities,  of  magical  art. 


A  few  copies  of  this  rare  and  splendid  subscription  work  can  be 
obtained  by  application  to  the  Editor,  Mrs.  HARDINGE  BRITTEN, 
118  West  Chester  Park,  Boston,  Mass. 

Price,  $5.00.  Postage,  33  cents.  Remittances  to  be  made  by 
P.  O.  Order  or  Registered  Letter. 


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